‘The people decide’: Sacramento readers weigh in on redistricting Prop. 50 | Opinion
Assemblymember supports Prop. 50
“Arnold Schwarzenegger calls Prop. 50 ‘insane’ during USC forum,” (sacbee.com, Sept. 16)
I support California’s redistricting efforts because of one central truth: democracy is not weakened when people are given the power to choose. Texas’s mid-decade gerrymander strips voters of their voice. California’s proposal does the opposite: it hands the choice to voters. That is not an erosion of rights; it is their fullest expression.
Proposition 11 created an independent commission; it did not anticipate another state tearing up the rules midstream to lock in control of Congress. The measure before Californians is temporary, with a sunset, leaving the commission intact for 2030 and beyond. Critics call that subversion. I call it accountability. The people decide — not suits in a back room, not a governor and not a president behaving like a king.
When one state rigs the board, the nation feels it. Silence is not an option.
Assemblymember Corey A. Jackson, D-Moreno Valley
Newsom and Prop. 50
“Independent voters must act: stop Prop 50 in California,” (sacbee.com, Sept. 19)
Proposition 50 is not about fair elections and it’s not about Texas manipulating voter districts to get up to five more Republican congressional representatives elected. Prop. 50 is clearly about getting presidential candidate hopeful Gov. Gavin Newsom more electoral votes. That’s why the revised districts will persist until 2030 — that includes Newsom’s 2028 presidential election campaign.
Joe Dobrowolski
Fair Oaks
Hate speech
“Who is Beth Bourne? Q&A with Davis activist who stripped to protest trans students,” (sacbee.com, Sept. 25)
Beth Bourne’s actions are hate speech directed at children.
Miriam Bernstein
Sacramento
Climate agreements are not a burden
“Gavin Newsom criticizes EPA’s climate policy reversal,” (sacbee.com, Sept. 23)
International agreements are acts of solidarity and recognition of common responsibility. Industrialized nations, which built their prosperity on fossil fuels, have both the capacity and the obligation to lead the transition.
Clean energy industries already create millions of jobs, while preserving habitability for future generations.
A politics of denial and isolation may sound defiant, but it leaves us all weaker in the face of this shared crisis.
Terry Hansen
Milwaukee, Wis.
Kiley’s struggling constituents
“Health insurance premiums may spike in CA without action,” (sacbee.com, Sept. 8)
My Republican Congressman, Keven Kiley, voted for President Donald Trump’s budget bill even though it increased healthcare and insurance costs for his constituents. Now, health insurance premiums may increase by as much as 75% in January.
This damage could be mitigated in the current funding bill, but Republicans would rather shut down the government than offset rising costs for their constituents.
I can’t afford groceries now, and I don’t think I’ll be able to afford health insurance in January. But the rich have more money than ever, and that’s good enough for Kiley.
Edward Farinsky
Browns Valley