Five years ago, when the proposal for a redistricting commission came up before the Legislature, I balked. I said then that the Democrats would figure out a way to turn the commission their way. Redistricting is the most political thing that occurs in politics. Careers and jobs are on the line, and since government is the "be all and end all" for Democrats, they would make sure they would take over the process. The only problem? We would lose all accountability. We couldn’t argue that the lines were unfair. We asked for, and got, a "balanced, unbiased" commission. In the mine of politics, the Democrats would get the gold, and we would get the shaft.
I was told to mind my own business. My colleagues said I didn’t know what I was talking about. I pointed out that there was no such thing as an unbiased commission. In the world of politics, Democrats go out of their way to be partisan, and they prove it every day by attacking Republicans. Republicans, on the other hand, go out of their way to be nonpartisan, and they prove it every day by attacking Republicans. So, it wouldn’t matter who was on the commission, Republicans would be attacked.
And guess what? Republicans are being attacked.
Democrats appointed the commission staff, who then rigged the bidding procedures to disqualify the group with ties to Republicans, and make sure that the only group that could qualify was the group with ties to Democrats, even though they had no experience in a redistricting of the size of California. those danged Democrats! They cheated. Whooda thunk it?
In the words of Gomer Pyle, Surpraize! Surpraize! Surpraize! They outsmarted us–again. And now, all we can do is sit on the sidelines and whine.
In the end, we violated the first rule of combat, we did not properly assess our enemies strengths and weakness. We set up a government commission, and then we are surprised when the Democrats turn that commission into their own animal? Give me a break. That playbook was written long ago, just some chose to ignore the signs.
We have to face facts. We can’t outsmart Democrats, we can’t outthink them, we can’t outwit them, we can’t out-"techno" them. Quite frankly, when it comes to government and politics, which is their lifeblood, the odds are against us if the playing field is even. They are, however, creatures of government, which means they are essentially lazy, and we can outwork them. There are no short cuts to victory, no quick fix. No little tinkering with the system that is going to deliver us to a majority. We have to be true to who we are, and we have to work.
If one assumes that the purpose of the political process is to persuade people to entrust you with power, we have to engage people on issues of principle, and then work hard to persuade them, with all the tools that are available to us, that we deserve their trust. The problems with the commission were preordained. Now we are stuck with them. We just have to work harder now.