NIKKEI PROGRESSIVES
When Republican lawmakers fight dirty, we must fight back!
Masked agents terrorizing our communities. The National Guard occupying Los Angeles. Funding slashed from science research and colleges. Freedom of the press and our right to free speech being trampled upon. Our histories are being erased.
The current administration’s policies are unpopular, so President Trump is afraid of losing his House majority during the 2026 midterms. That is why he is bullying state Republicans to redraw their congressional maps to grab more seats before voting even begins.
Californians: We have a duty to defend democracy. Vote Yes on Prop 50 to fight back and protect the people who are losing their voices.
California Republicans and Charles Munger have spent $35 million (so far) to misinform the public. Using phony arguments like “If you fight fire with fire, you’ll burn everything down,” they seek to hide the fact that Trump started the wildfire of partisan gerrymandering. Reject these “arsonists” who are trying to trick you into believing that they are the ones defending democracy.
Prop 50 calls on Congress (the GOP) to pass a law requiring the use of fair, independent, and nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide. It will mitigate the harm caused by Texas’s gerrymandering by approving congressional lines that could result in five additional Democratic seats in California.
Finally, it asks for California voters to approve the plan until the next census. After 2030, the line-drawing power will return to the Citizens Redistricting Commission.
This isn’t about Gov. Newsom or his ambitions. Prop 50 is about the Black and brown voters of Texas and Missouri whose representation has been ripped away. It is about the inhumane conditions in ICE detention facilities. It’s about the Supreme Court ruling to allow racial profiling. It’s about the Senate batch-approving Trump appointees.
We have three branches of government, supposedly for checks and balances, but now the power is increasingly concentrated with the president. The danger of authoritarianism is real and the stakes are high. We the people must stand up and fight back to claim our power.
We cannot go into another election with our hands tied behind our backs. We don’t have the luxury of standing idly by when Trump Republicans will fight dirty and throw our democracy under the bus. Vote with the people. Vote Yes on Prop 50 for California and for the entire country.
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The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.