It is one of those debates that has increased with America’s social division. It all deals with the US House of Representatives and the 435 seats contained within the House. A President is dependent on the house to pass legislation, budgets etc..It was one of the points the founding fathers had in creating a system of checks and balances. Redistricting occurs every 10 years in practice. Usually, the party in power in the House of Representatives redraws the map to its political advantage. For Republicans luck has been in their corner as they have controlled the House at these critical moments. In this day and age, where we can track votes by individual household, you can be very specific and exact in your drawing. As America has become more polarized and politicized this redrawing has become more important and more contentious.
Which brings us to Texas. We know the President is always watching the polls. In fact he is always watching the television. When poll numbers come out that make the November midterms look unfavorable. He knows without control of the House his agenda falls apart. He panics. He loves executive power, frankly just power. He calls Texas Governor Gregg Abbott. He says, let’s redraw Texas now. This way they can secure an additional 5 seats in Congress and secure Republican rule. Plain and simple this is power at work. Governor Abbott appearing very weak, simply rolls over and does the Presidents bidding.
The follow up will be felt in California and New York. California Governor Gavin Newsom has been quick to respond. Partly because he sees that he has to and partly because it affirms his own Presidential aspirations. This could also spill over to New York. The danger seems obvious. A domino effect of states redistricting to favor one party. We could rig a system of Blue only states and Red only states. It would be the beginning of the end to American democracy. Going by current electoral map it would put Blue at 276, so a razor thins margin. For those counting you need 270 to carry house. This however is not a world we would want to live in. It would lead to loss of freedoms. It is also the delicate balance of how much do you want to empower the states versus the federal government.
The ego of power has been a human weakness for centuries. At its roots has been the desire for a man to rule over the lives of others. To determine what there purpose shall be. What their opinions shall fall in line with. To determine their level of happiness. To determine their fate. To embolden the cult of personality. Yet time and time again someone or some group figures out how to manipulate the general population into complacency. Right now in the US it seems as if we are just watching. There are few protests. A lot of social outrage, but this has not led to any action. In America we are complacent. We are very individual. As long as something does not interfere with our daily lives, we take little notice. This is how dictatorship works. It loves silence. Enrage your supporters. Hitler did this to perfection in his run up to absolute power in Germany. Though those supporters may be in the minority, they seemingly capture the day.
This is a moment, frankly there have been many of late, of what do we stand for as a nation? The President takes an oath to the Constitution. Our military swears an oath to the Constitution. In our current environment there seem a strong desire to skirt the Constitution. In order to appear to get things done we bend the rules. In recent times that has been through the executive order. The effort to redistrict is not about democracy but a plain and simple power grab. Yet most of the public remains silent. Silence has consequences, I am not sure when the country will wake up to what is happening in America. If and when it does will it be too late? Redistricting used to be a procedural process but over time has become a political one. If we turn a blind eye, the America we wake up in will be very different. It will not be the one we have known.
Good Night and Good Luck
Hans Henrik Hoffmann August 29th 2025
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