Crooked

Illinois Congressional Map

Many Democrat politicians are up at arms over Greg Abbott’s redistricting plan in Texas. Every Democrat Congressperson in Texas fled the state last week to prevent a vote on the new redistricted map. They are claiming that the Republicans are redrawing the congressional districts to give them a political advantage in the state, potentially eliminating five congressional Democrats from representing Texas. And the critics of this plan are absolutely correct. Republicans are redistricting the state of Texas for political purposes. There is no debating or denying that. And the critics of this plan are wheeling out the same old scare tactic language.

Senator Bernie Sanders said Texas redistricting, “is undemocratic, it is outrageous.” Former President Barack Obama posted, “this is a power grab that undermines our democracy.” Illinois Governor called the redistricting “cheating”. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called it, “a legal insurrection.”  California Governor Gavin Newsom threatened, “If Texas cheats on their voting maps, then (and only then) should California cheat on ours?” But who exactly has been cheating? Blue state Governors, all lead states whose congressional districts have been comically redrawn to the extreme advantage of the Democrat party. JB Pritzker even joked that the congressional map in his state of Illinois looks like a “kindergarten class” drew it.

In Texas, Republicans occupy 25 of 38 seats (65%) and Trump won 56% of the vote (+9%). That appears fairly representative of where the state is. But in Democrat run states, there is not even an attempt at a fair Republican representation in congressional districts.

In New Mexico, Democrats occupy 3 of 3 seats (100%) and Harris won 54% of the vote (+46%);

In Connecticut, Democrats occupy 5 of 5 seats (100%) and Harris won 58% of the vote (+42%);

In Massachusetts, Democrats occupy 9 of 9 seats (100%), Harris won 64% of the vote (+36%);

In Illinois, Democrats occupy 14 of 17 seats (82%) and Harris won 56% of the vote (+26%);

In Oregon, Democrats occupy 5 of 6 seats (83%) and Harris won 59% of the vote (+24%);

In Maryland, Democrats occupy 7 of 8 seats (88%) and Harris won 66% of the vote (+22%);

In California, Democrats occupy 43 of 52 seats (83%) and Harris won 62% of the vote (+21%);

In New York, Democrats occupy 19 of 26 seats (73%) and Harris won 57% of the vote (+16%);

Governor Abbott is doing exactly what all of these blue state governors have done for years. But suddenly these blue state governors are crying foul because redistricting is working against Democrats and not for Democrats. This is how American politics is done in the year 2025. It is not about fair representation or the will of the people; it is about political parties grabbing as much power as possible.

The entire fight over illegal immigration, regardless of the passionate arguments for or against it, is solely about political power. That’s it. The Democrats want more and more illegal immigrants to come into this country for two reasons – one, they want illegals to be counted in the census, so there will be a greater number of Democrat leaning congressional districts, which means the Democrats will have more representation in the House of Representatives and drive the agenda in Washington, DC; and two, the blue states will have more electoral votes during Presidential elections, which could tip the outcome of the election.  

So, all those sob stories about human rights, and giving people from other countries the opportunity to live the American dream, or helping people around the world who are less fortunate than us, are all a pack of lies. The only motivation for mass illegal immigration is to tilt the balance of power in DC. That’s it. And, to be fair, if illegal immigration worked to the political advantage of the Republican party, the Republican party would be the party of open borders, and the Democrat party would be the one demanding a wall, and applauding the ICE raids that are being conducted throughout our cities. That’s how political power is determined in our country. Is not determined strictly by the American citizen casting their vote for the candidate who they believe will best serve the United States. That’s only a small part of it, but that is not the primary determining factor of political power in America. All of these machinations which are going on behind closed doors, determine which side has the power in this country, and in the end, it is not the American people.

Even if there wasn’t illegal immigration and gerrymandering, how much control do we – the average citizens – really have in determining who our political leaders are? Deep pocket political donors give millions of dollars each election cycle to tip the scales of our political elections. George Soros, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and many other politically active billionaires inject tens of millions of dollars into election cycles to sway the election one way or the other. They funnel their money through Political Action Committees, and nonprofit NGO’s, where there are no limits on how much money anyone can give and those organizations use that money to do the bidding of the political candidates while the average American citizen does not have the disposable cash to influence the election in anyway. So, the concept of democracy in the United States of America is an illusion. It is beautiful in theory; it’s a pure illusion or even a delusion in practice. That is why a large percentage of the American population does not even bother to vote. They recognize that their vote doesn’t really matter. And that’s a shame.

That is the reality of American politics. As soon as you inject the human element into any system, that system immediately becomes corrupted. Most people accept this reality about American politics whether they will admit it or not. What has become tiresome is the pearl clutching and the pontification about idealism by corrupt politicians when the corrupt system suddenly works against them. That’s what drives me crazy most of all. This is the system. Gerrymandering has been going on in this country since the beginning. Every political party in the history of this country has attempted to gerrymander the congressional districts to their party’s advantage. That’s what happens. Don’t talk about insurrection, rigging elections, threats to democracy, or any other scare tactic, when the corrupt practice that you’ve benefited from for years suddenly works against you. Spare us the sob stories about kids being separated from parents when Donald Trump’s ICE agency is deporting illegal immigrants, when no one said a word about 350,000 illegal immigrant children who went missing due to Joe Biden’s open border policy, which was put in place specifically to benefit Democrat politicians and the Democrat party.

It all stinks. It’s all corrupt. They are very few politicians in this country who are actually working for the will of the people. They’re all working for their own political power, or for their deep pocket donors. That’s where our system is right now. Why can’t we all just admit it, and move forward, and spare us the holier than thou speeches about protecting democracy, the will of the people, and fealty to the Constitution because there are extremely few politicians in our country who care about democracy or the will the people. Show me an elected politician who stands on principle and consistently upholds the Constitution, and I will show you a one term politician.

__________________________________________________________

Mr. Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.