Virginia’s new Democrat state government is celebrating America’s 250th anniversary with an autocratic power-grab, which they call “leveling the playing field,” that violates both our state laws and founding principles. In Virginia, we already have a nearly level playing field, with six Democrat and five Republican congressional districts, along with a bipartisan districting commission, which Democrats sought for years and was broadly supported in the 2020 election, with two-thirds of a large (70%) voter turnout. But instead, the proposed new gerrymandering would create ten Democrat districts to one Republican district.It would gain Democrats about four additional US congressional representatives. How is any of this “leveling the playing field”?
The current proposed gerrymandering project is fundamentally dishonest and one-sided. The present districting commission has equal number of Republicans and Democrats members anda number of private citizens.The measure was posted, as required by law, in courthouses for at least 90 days and was discussed openly in many public meetings before the 2020 vote.
However, the proposed measure we are now voting on was cooked up in closed-door, cloistered, Democrat-only meetings, together with AI, to produce the absolutely most advantageous-for-Democrats districts. There has been NO public discussion. This measure has NOT been posted at courthouses, and they are not posting district maps in electronic media or at polling places – because they don’t want the public to know what they are up to. They rushed the entire process and broke state laws to do it. Additionally, the Democrat legislature was so frenzied with their redistricting scheme that they still have not passed a state budget, in violation of state law. Further, Spanberger lied about this during her campaign, saying she had “no interest in redistricting.” And judges, including the justices of the Virginia Supreme Court, are not litigating any of this because they are appointed by the state legislature, and they want to keep their positions.
In this era of “social justice,” this proposed measure is manifestly unjust. Central to this power-grab is the partitioning of populous, Democrat-heavy areas of NOVA and lumping them together with more conservative, rural districts to swamp their votes and silence their voices. The proposed new map would have five representatives living within twelve miles of each other and would include a huge chevron-shaped district centered in NOVA but extending south to Powhatan and southwest to Rockbridge County! How representative of all those localities is that? They also paired the Virginia Tech portion of Montgomery County with UVA/Charlottesville and JMU/Harrisonburg to unite those liberal enclaves and split off the rest of Montgomery County into far SWVA, the only conservative district left in the state. Additionally, they split Augusta, our state’s most agricultural county, between three districts. What does this do to the vote of our agricultural community? What could be the motive for this bizarre algorithm other than a raw lust for power and control? Even the Washington Post and other liberal media outlets have called our commonwealth, the largest source of our most cherished American ideals and liberties, the most dishonest, gerrymandered state in the union.
This proposed measure is completely hypocritical. The Democrat party typically favors DICE (diversity, inclusion, choice, and equity), but this excludes everyone whose ideas are not in uniformity with theirs, deprives them of equity, and abolishes choice. Further, Democrats have consistently complained about May being too soon for mayoral elections, but have scheduled this vote for even a month earlier, manifestly to spring it on our voters before they understand this new measure or even know about it. (They’re counting on low turnout.)
Which was the party of the KKK? Democrat.
Which was the party of the Jim Crow laws? Democrat.
Which is now the party of Marxism/socialism/Communism (which has failed everywhere it has been tried) that wants to destroy the Judaeo-Christian foundations of our society, from which all of our rights and liberties spring, and establish one-party rule as with this bizarre stab at redistricting? You guessed it: Democrat.
Who is campaigning, promising that this gerrymandering will only be temporary until 2030? The same individual who said we could keep our doctors and insurance companies and that our premiums would decline with Obamacare, and who brazenly funded Iran to “stabilize” the Middle East. Why would anyone want to vote in favor of this issue or this party – especially right in the middle of our nation’s 250th anniversary? Our state motto is “Sic Semper Tyrannis” (So Always to Tyrants). We need to extend it to “Sic Semper Tyrannis Democratorum”: “So Always to the Tyranny of the Democrats” and their bid to establish monolithic control over our state and our union!
VOTE “NO” to reject this egregious grab for total power and control ON OR BEFORE APRIL 21!
Dr. Alan Denekas is a medical doctor and resident of Roanoke County.
