Life of Wry

When it feels like the country is in a violent swirl down a filthy Trainspotting-like toilet (who could EVER forget that horrifically gross, retch-inducing scene), canvassing for a righteous cause (well, not that righteous, but I’ll explain that in a sec) can be a wee balm for the soul.

I mean, look at these young, obviously smart, ever-optimistic-about-their-futures Davis College Dems loading turfs on their smart phones and collecting high-priced, glossy literature on a GORGEOUS Saturday morning at Farmer’s Market so they can canvass the lovely tree-lined streets of upper-middle-class Davis where they will talk earnestly with conscientious fellow dems, who’ll cheerfully answer their front doors when they hear a knock, and kindly remind them to vote on November 4 in FAVOR of Proposition 50 — the Anti-Election-Rigging bill that Gavin has put on the California ballot in response to the appallingly deceitful move on the part of Texas Governor Abbot (at trump’s desperate command) to squeeze five Democratic congress members from their seat by gerrymandering the f**k out of the Texas congressional map. And those nice, conscientious fellow dems will do just that.

Prop 50 allows California to redraw five districts of its own, setting aside temporarily the districts drawn by our beautiful, fair, non-partisan election commission. By doing so, those previously red districts can move to the blue column and effectively render Abbot’s gains a wash.

Awful, isn’t it? Not the outcome, but the tactic. Feels super shitty. But we are not living in a functioning, fair democracy right now. That’s just fact. If they’re going to manipulate the election, they leave us little choice but to follow suit. Otherwise we’ve just handed them the keys to our democracy to ransack as they please. It’s a hail Mary. And probably not the last one we’ll throw. We’re hanging on by a thread here.

So canvass we did today. And wow, was it fun and satisfying. Those Davis College Dems evidently canvassed our neighborhood today, as I came home to a glossy piece of literature tucked under our door mat. Sherri and I worked the M-N Street neighborhood (with some Pomona, Lesley, Adeline and Lehigh mixed in). That is one deep blue neighborhood, I have to say. Nearly everyone we spoke with (about half the doors we knocked) knew about and was strongly in favor of the proposition. The few (2 or 3) who were on the fence came around. Not happily, but agreed this is existential. The conversations were sober and smart.

It was a worthwhile and very gratifying way to spend an afternoon.

Our president, worried he’ll lose the House in the 2026 midterms (with good reason), commanded Texas to redraw its congressional districts — five years before the census, when district lines are customarily revisited and redrawn per shifts in population — in such a manner as to flip five seats from Democratic majority to Republican. He believes this will go a long way toward preventing his defeat in a close race. Gov Abbot, eager to please, moved on trump’s demand right away. More Republican governors are now following suit and planning to rig the elections in their states, as well.

However, Dems need to win back control of the House if we have any hope of slowing down trump’s authoritarian takeover of our government. So.. as Republicans cheat with their partisan gerrymandering scheme, a move that totally undermines democracy, California is meeting the moment with Proposition 50, the Election Rigging Response Act. Newsom’s not standing by with a plastic fork in what will be a big-time knife fight.

California has had a Citizens Redistricting Commission since 2010 which oversees the drawing of congressional districts every ten years. We voted on that in 2008 and it has worked beautifully (and fairly). It may be tough to convince people to pause this practice, but I believe that most see trump’s move for what it is (cheating.. and if it works, catastrophic) and will be willing to temporarily gerrymander five of our own districts. It’s only for five years; we’d go back to the Citizens Commission in 2030.

I enthusiastically support this move. I participated in a training session today organized by CADem (the California Democratic Party) to become a canvassing trainer. Sister District Yolo and Indivisible Yolo are facilitating door-to-door canvassing every Saturday until the November 4 election. We will be talking to and mobilizing voters in support of Prop 50. We need to get out the Dem vote and pass this thing.

Our new lawn sign arrived today.