In 1990, I helped elect Texas' most recent Democratic governor (Ann Richards) and lieutenant governor (Bob Bullock). The following year, as an adviser to Lt. Gov. Bullock, I was part of the redistricting effort following the 1990 census. Oh, how politics and policy have changed today in the state I still call home.
On Wednesday, the Texas legislature passed a highly unusual mid-decade redistricting map, with the goal of eliminating five "Democratic" districts. California and other Democratic-leaning states are threatening to do the same to "Republican" districts. I completely understand this reaction. We can't have a representative democracy if blue states follow the ideal of independent redistricting and reduce partisan districts while red states follow raw partisan politics and create as many GOP districts as possible. In the short term, if Democrats don't draw partisan districts, they would most likely be ceding a permanent majority to the GOP in the House of Representatives.
This all reminds me of the proliferation of nuclear weapons: As each country matches or one-ups the other, it increases the risk of "MAD" — mutually assured destruction. In this case, the long-term result of such a race to the bottom is the destruction of our representative democracy. So what is the solution?
This is a preview of Matthew Dowd's latest column. Read the full column here.
