Category Archives: Politics

Finally I Am Not Alone in Opposing Prop 50

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday’s Los Angeles Times has an article on the front page by Ana Ceballos (reporting from Washington) and Seema Mehta (reporting from Los Angeles) about how passing California’s Proposition 50 might not help change house control. I read the entire article, as usual, hoping against hope to find something about how wrong it is for us to be trying to rig our elections against Republicans through the 2030 election cycle.

Today I finally found something. (I should note I haven’t done any actual research, have only kept my eyes open whenever I read something about these gerrymandering efforts nationwide, hoping to read that someone else is disturbed about this, too). The last four paragraphs of the article give us the opinion of Erik Nisbet, the director of the Center for Communications & Public Policy at Northwestern University who believes the fact that this “redistricting trend is gaining traction is part of a broader problem.”

“It is a symptom,” Nisbet says, “of this 20-year trend in increasing polarization and political tribalism.” He argues that “both parties are sacrificing democratic norms and the ideas of procedural fairness as well as a representative democracy for political gain.”

This is stated more clearly and succinctly than my arguments in my earlier post for Governor Newsom and California Democrats voting in tomorrow’s election. But his message is the same as mine—this is just so wrong.

“I am worried,” Nisbet says, “about what the end result” of these efforts to rig our elections will be. People on both sides of the aisle should be worried, too. Frankly, it terrifies me.

Dear Governor Newsom, or Why Californians Need to Vote No on 50

Posted on by
Reply

Please vote no on 50. It only divides us. It’s just wrong.

Dear Governor Newsom,

I am 67 years old and have been on the left-leaning, progressive side of the political spectrum since before I could vote, and I suspect what I need to say is going to be wildly unpopular with the left. Yet here I am, asking you to reverse course and throw your weight against Proposition 50 instead, because it’s just wrong.

Can you please tell the voters of California that you made a mistake? That you changed your mind, came to your senses? That you understandably reacted passionately to the insidiousness of President Trump’s urging other states to gerrymander their districts to get him more votes, and in hindsight can see that you took the low road and want to regain the high road now instead?

California is one of the states that did the right thing some years ago, creating an independent commission to redraw our voting districts with each new census in order to make elections fair. Even though this proposition is “temporary,” these rigged districts, designed to help more Democrats win, would run through our 2030 election cycle. How can we possibly justify this? How would we feel if the tables were turned?

And this leads me to the heart of why I believe this is morally wrong. Doing this harms California Republicans. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to the Republican candidates running for office (especially those who are running for reelection in districts that will have been redrawn to help the Democratic candidates). Democrats hold a solid majority in this state, so in my mind, “rigging” the system to harm our Republican voters and candidates is completely unjust. And if it isn’t illegal and unconstitutional, it should be. Clearly we’re in a time in the United States where doing the illegal and the unconstitutional in government is happening everywhere we turn, and it scares the hell out of me. But that doesn’t make retaliating in this way right. We need to be moving away from the “us versus them” mentality, not exacerbating it.

Believe me, I want to put the brakes on, too. In my gut, I want to fight fire with fire. But the truth is, that never works. We have to find ways to stop President Trump’s disturbing maneuvers in ways that don’t have us committing the same sins, sins that can bring our democracy crashing down. It’s a terrible precedent. How low will we go? And can we even be certain our own rigged districts will elect more Democrats? I would not be surprised if all these machinations backfire. Can we not instead keep trying to find lawful, nonviolent and more creative ways to stop what’s happening?

I would have loved to see the money we’re spending on this special election to have gone instead to reinstate some of the existing services we recently denied our California residents who need them most (Republicans and Democrats alike), though I realize it’s too late now. Still, I would have such great respect for you if you were to reconsider this extreme and mean-spirited move and urge us now instead to vote no on Proposition 50. And then pull together the greatest minds and hearts you can gather from all across the political spectrum—the best strategic thinkers and those with the most integrity and the biggest hearts—and help us find fair, ingenious, ethical and effective ways to stop our president’s agenda.

Thanks very much for your time.

Riba

Spontaneous Combustion? (43)

Posted on by
Reply

“For God’s sake,” Biden says
“this man cannot remain in power.”
I don’t have all the details
(unwise, maybe, for a president)
but it makes me like him more.

In Solidarity (40)

Posted on by
Reply

These bands of blue and yellow
must be Ukraine’s flag, I think
when I see them
in the Lalo Alcaraz strip today
How do we sit
inside ourselves
with this?
(How do we fit inside our skin?)

September 9th (27)

Posted on by
2

I am on Zoom. Three people in a row say how thrilled they are at the progress we are making here in the United States, the protests, knowing black lives matter. I can feel their buoyancy. I sit still, stunned, uncomfortable in my skin because I feel so far away from them, on the other side of the world, on another planet. I am terrified, angry, anxious. Hopeful, yes—but nowhere near being able to touch “thrilled.” Later, I wonder if I was judging their excitement, naming it naïveté without knowing I was. Or was it only that while I believed in the promise of the protests I could not trust they would lead to real change? Or maybe I only need to be able to embrace the good when it comes, more readily, more fully than I do? Or maybe the distance and discomfort I felt was only because I live in all the shades of gray.

Where White People Might Begin (10)

Posted on by
2

I can’t count the number of white people I’ve heard say the murder of George Floyd woke them up to how bad things are for black people, for indigenous people, for all people of color. I’ve cringed, stayed silent. But I’ve wondered. How could you not know? At the same time, if I am fair, I think this monstrous act (that follows centuries of monstrous acts) struck at an especially vulnerable time. Maybe because we are all so off kilter from the pandemic this has reached deeper, feels more vivid. Maybe even those of us who scream white privilege, who have the luxury of turning away, of tuning out, haven’t been able to turn away from this. For me, it joins other griefs, wakes up overwhelm and powerlessness. And living in there, too, is a flicker I think might be hope. If you don’t know where to begin, you might start here.
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice

Small Hurts (47)

Posted on by
Reply

Before the election, I turn from my mailbox to see my neighbor Ted and his dog Buster walking toward me. They look happy. “I just got a letter from Mike Bloomberg,” I say. Ted teases me about how Mike and I can’t keep our relationship secret much longer, and I fall in step with them on their slow walk home. We talk politics, about who we are voting for in the primaries, about how much we both like Elizabeth Warren. We fix the world, talk about the environment. That gets me going about banning Roundup, and we talk about how people would have to be willing to tolerate some weeds or actually pull some weeds, give up a little on the pristine. We talk about edible weeds, my fondness for dandelions and their greens. (Right now another neighbor has some nice big ones behind his trailer I am quietly harvesting.) At my gate we stop. “Well, I have to get going,” I say.

“Oh, sorry,” Ted says. “I’ll get off my soapbox.”

“No,” I say. “It’s always a pleasure.” But I am instantly sorry I said I had to go. Something under my skin bubbling up, the need to finish prepping my class before I leave. But I could have been happy standing there a few more minutes, fixing the world together. I wish I had.