California Proposition 77

Arnold Schwarzenegger is in trouble in California where he has four propositions up for a vote this year. Current polls show him losing on all four counts, which is a shame because one of them — Proposition 77 — deserves to pass. Prop. 77 is designed to change the way in which California’s political boundaries are drawn. Currently, and like all but two states [Arizona and Iowa], California has its district borders set by politicians. This is hardly democratic, just look at the way DeLay rigged the Texas districts to ensure more Republicans in Congress, and helps reinforce voter cycnicism because incumbents protect their majorities not by working to earn votes, but simply by rigging their district boundaries. In other words it enables politicians to avoid the competition that democracy helps induce. Were American voters capable of seeing past their own mythology they would recognize that their country is not as democratic as it should, or could, be as a result of this rigging. Indeed if they saw another country’s voting districts drawn up in such a politicized way they would surely cry ‘corruption!’. Proposition 77 takes away the politicians power to rig districts by setting up an independent board to oversee re-districting. So much as I decry Arnold, I think he has this one right. Proposition 77 should pass. It will help California become a democracy.