Texas Republicans aren’t just redistricting. They are doing so in a dangerous and unprecedented way, according to a former Tea Party Republican lawmaker.
Former GOP Congressman Joe Walsh, who recently accused Donald Trump’s administration of a massive coverup, published an article called, America, Go Back to Civics Class, Please, in which he argues there isn’t enough outrage about the GOP’s new gerrymandering scheme.
“I’ve got to get something off my chest,” he said, “and this is really directed at the American people.”
He continued:
“I love you, American people, but we’ve got to be f—— better informed and better educated about our politics and civics in this country. Man, we stopped teaching American government and civics so damn long ago. We ought to be teaching it in our schools every single day.”
Walsh went on to say, “This whole Texas redistricting/gerrymandering thing? Pay attention. I get so angry when people don’t understand what is so unprecedented about what Texas is trying to do.”
According to the former lawmaker, the situation now in Texas is far different than any other redistricting.
“Yes, gerrymandering is wrong, but it happens. And both sides do it in whatever states they control. But it’s done every 10 years. It’s done at the end of every decade. It’s done with each and every census we have at the end of every decade. Every 10 years, we redistrict, and Republicans gerrymander, and Democrats gerrymander,” he wrote on Substack. “What Texas is doing is different.”
He continued, adding that, “They’re proposing mid-decade redistricting, not waiting until 2030. We just did this in 2020. The next redistricting is in 2030 and then 2040. Texas is saying, ‘Screw that. I’m gonna redistrict now. I’m not waiting until 2030.’”
He then asked, “Do you understand how dangerous and unprecedented this is?”
“Because this will then make it possible for any state, and any party in any state, to say, ‘The hell with it. I’m gonna redistrict this year, before this election’,” the now-Democrat wrote. “We will get states gerrymandering before every single election in this country. Representatives will not know what districts they represent. People will not know who their representatives are. This will f— up every single election in this country.”