When I was in high school, a very good teacher of mine once told me something that I don’t think I will ever forget. Most of my friends have likely already heard me say this, possibly multiple times, but I am going to write it here again, anyways. He said: “Jaber, I think one should behave in a way that if everyone else behaves that way, the world will be a better place, not a worse place.” He then continued with his justification which I do not fully remember, but I believe it was something to the effect that only that kind of behavior can be scalable and sustainable, and everything else is likely to be destructive.

Gone are those days when parents and teachers would give this kind of advice to their children or students. Nowadays, the more prevalent advice kids hear from their parents back home is probably “you do whatever is in your best interest, and let others worry about its consequences to others or to the society.” Coincidentally, this kind of thinking is not too far from the mantra of the modern Republican party. Note that I am talking about the current Republicans and not necessarily all conservatives. I know many decent conservatives who have parted ways, long ago, with this Republican party. But for those who are still with the party, the prevalent mentality and (somewhat unspoken) mantra is: “lower my taxes, f. with the rest of the country and future generations, and with the rule of law, or even basic human decency.”

To deliver that ultimate result to their billionaire donors and friends, the Republican party needs to stay in power. So, as I had written a couple of months ago, at the instruction of their cult leader, Governor Abbott and the Texas legislature decided to redraw their already gerrymandered districting maps, to further gerrymander them in favor of Republicans, so that, as instructed by the President, they can pick up five more seats for the House in the 2026 midterm elections. While the fate of those maps are to be decided in courts, the very act itself is a good example of a behavior that is directly against that advice of my teacher’s at the top of this post. They simply assumed they could do that grossly undemocratic act to benefit their party, but everyone else will play nice and by the rules, so they will come out winners in the end.

Next Tuesday, on November 4th, Californians are voting on prop 50, which grants temporary power to the state legislature to draw new districting maps for the upcoming midterm elections in 2026, which may be different from the independent Citizens Districting Commission’s map. In a vacuum, this proposal would probably sound as undemocratic as what the Texas is doing. But we don’t live in a vacuum. And while many might feel reluctant to take that power, even on a temporary basis, from the independent commission and give it to the political law makers, it is a necessary act and an appropriate response to what is happening in Texas and now in several other red states. Other blue states should follow suit in any way possible. It sounds chaotic, I know. But if one side does not want to play by the rules and tries to benefit from a chaotic situation that they themselves are creating, there is no other option left for the other side: in order to have better democratic processes you need a democracy in the first place. What California, and hopefully soon other blue states are doing is an effort to save the democracy. Otherwise, no one could, in good conscience, argue that it makes the process more democratic in the long run.

If you live in California, and have not yet mailed in your ballot, please consider voting yes to prop 50 and mailing it as soon as possible. Let’s please we all remember that while voting is a right, it is also a responsibility. And that we share some responsibility, no matter how small we argue that is, in the outcomes and consequences of the elections that are determined by our votes or lack thereof.