Redistrict based on population, not politics

  Here’s a novel concept: When it comes time to redistrict political boundaries in Texas to accommodate the two new congressional seats awarded through the 2020 Census, remove all sociopolitical filters and base it by population alone.

As naïve a concept as that may seem, it’s the simplest and most logical method for determining fair congressional and legislative representation. Strip away the filters of political party, race, gender, religion, wealth and every other dividing factor. Let one person be one person. Make an effort to keep communities together whenever possible.

End gerrymandering. End the nonsense of creating districts that benefit one party over another. It only takes one look at the current congressional map of the state to see that common sense has not prevailed. If you look to the south at the long, narrow and crooked 28th, 15th, 34th, and 27th districts, for example, it becomes abundantly clear that factors beyond population were considered in their creation. The same can be said for all 36 districts.

Before lawmakers begin the decennial process of reshaping the districts for representation in Congress, the state Legislature, and the state Board of Education, they need to check their egos, political parties, and all other outside influences at the door. They need to forget all of that stuff and remember the fact that Texas recently spent a lot of time and money in the courts, ultimately to have judges and not lawmakers have the final say in what our congressional districts look like.

So why is this important now? Legislators are currently on the tail end of the current biennial session and their attention is focused on the budget and numerous other hot-button issues that need to be considered by May 31. Normally redistricting would be considered during the session, but pandemic delays of Census data means it will be August before state leaders have the data to start drawing lines on a map. You can bet, however, that legislators and other state officials have redistricting on their minds and that all kinds of backroom wheeling and dealing has begun in Austin.

We need to let the Legislative Redistricting Board (a five‐member body of state officials including the lieutenant governor, speaker of the house, attorney general, comptroller, and commissioner of the general land office) know that we don’t want political party districts but districts that represent the people. Let’s take the power from the parties and return it to the people.

Communities deserve to be represented by one of their own, not someone 300 miles away along a flagpole line on a map. As we have seen in the past with our state leadership, they cannot be trusted to take anything into consideration but preservation and expansion of their party’s power.

That has caused the federal government to step in on more than one occasion. It’s time to act reasonably and responsibly and to not worry about balancing political scales but rather the scales of honest representation.

Right now in Gillespie County the Republican majority might be pleased to have Republicans increase their political stronghold on the state. But there will come a time down the road when Democrats gain control. Do we really want them carving up our districts to their favor? If not, then Republicans shouldn’t be doing it to them. It’s time to do the most fair and equitable thing and that is to create districts that represent communities, not political parties. – J.S.

 (This was an editorial in the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post.)