LETTER: Texas and the redistricting battle
I have not seen anyone relating the Texas redistricting back to the individual voters. We all profess to believe in one-person, one-vote. We have a republic, not a democracy. Rather than like a New England town meeting where the entire community votes on everything — even whether to repaint the fire hydrants — we vote for representatives to deal with the individual issues.
Ideally when 40 percent of the votes are cast for the minority party, it would receive 40 percent of the seats. In practice, after the census, frequently the majority party puts its thumb on the scale and steals a few extra seats for the team. This practice is called gerrymandering.
In Texas, the Democrats received 43 percent of the votes in the 2024 congressional election. However, they only won 34 percent (13 out of 38) of the seats in Congress. The proposed bill would likely cut it down to eight seats (21 percent). This would make a Democratic vote worth less that half the vote of a Republican. Nobody can support this bill unless they truly believe: “Let the people vote. It keeps them happy but it does not matter.” That is a dictatorship.
