Reflective Writing: Texas Legislative Branch, Redistricting, Campaigns, and Elections under Federalism
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Reflective Writing: Texas Legislative Branch, Redistricting, Campaigns, and Elections under Federalism
Part One
Redistricting entails the act of marking electoral boundaries in the U.S. The rationale of the redistricting process is that it enables the federal government to safeguard the independence and sovereignty of each of the counties. This is done to ensure that when elections come, people from outside states to not interfere with voting in the neighboring states. As such, redistricting before the decennial census is a crime based on constitutional and statutory laws. This is because, given the number and nature of state-level elections across a wide geographical area is characterized by exceptionally demographically heterogeneous populations. Such a phenomenon makes it democratically necessary that remapping between censuses be a reserved power of the state. This is so because it would allow the state to maximize representative democracy.
Of paramount importance to note is that redistricting would result in changes in the electoral boundaries, and this would have a significant impact on the decennial census that is to be carried out later in the year 2020. Besides, redistricting would result in various populations for each county because each state or local area would aim at ensuring that they get more people within their territories. Moreover, redistribution would lead to remapping of the authority or mandate in each state.
According to Miller (2013), the redistricted boundaries that exist between each state guide the state-level election across the nation. It is also noted from the U.S. Constitution that states cannot carry out the process of remapping before conducting a census that is approaching. Nonetheless, the redistricting process can be allowed to take effect after the census process, and this would translate to 2021 or 2022. The importance of redistricting is that it ensures that each state exists by its boundaries.
Don’t Mess with Texas is a slogan that was adopted in Texas to ensure that people do not want to litter roadways. It is a measure or policy that was established to provide a clean and enabling environment. This was birthed because the state was highly littered some decades ago (the 1980s and 1990s). The campaign was developed to control the lettering that was very rampant in the region. Even though the slogan served its purpose back then, it has been adopted for other purposes.
The individualist political culture employs this campaign to warn other states not to interfere with the manner in which another state conducts its political business affairs. Some proponents feel that each state should be given the golden opportunity to carry out its endeavors without disruption or interference. In my opinion, this would serve to enhance democracy as influences from other states, and the federal government is reduced.
The remapping of Texas would lead to boundary expansion. Through the state legislatures, the state would see more people coming in from the neighboring states. Political scientists share the opinion that such redistricting would result in more state powers and authority after the census. To deter the state from achieving this milestone, the federal government and other neighboring state would introduce intervening factors. Most of the politicians argue that such action is unconstitutional and is not embedded anywhere in the U.S. statutory laws, and hence this would result in inter-state court cases in the coming days (Miller, 2013). It should be noted that if such action or practice is taken, it will result in unwarranted fights and battles from other states as remapping and redistricting would give Texas an upper-hand in the coming census. Doing this would mean expanding its territories at the expense of other states in the United States.
Part Two
Watching the movie “The Big Buy – Rise and Fall of Tome Delay” 2006 documentary was hard. This is because it describes political engagements that infringe on the rights of some. In this care, Tome Delay is featured having undergone and experienced captured congress. Because I had not watched such a movie before, I sure had no bias or affiliations on the subjects involved. However, having been involved in U.S. politics, I do have a strong opinion on the matters represented in the movie. A close examination of the documentary shows that politics have a hand in the justice system, which could be positive or negative.
Regarding the application of criminal proceedings and the nature of correction policy, I am against the use of politics in determining capital punishment or the death penalty for the offenders. Despite the fact that the crime committed by an individual death penalty is in itself wrong. I have this opinion because I was brought up thinking that a much more robust approach to the rehabilitation of criminal offenders. Allowing individuals to feel remorseful and change their behaviors for the betterment of society would be more profitable to a country than giving a death sentence.
The movie guides us through the events leading up to Delay’s indictment for illegal use of campaign contributions in the 2002 Texas Legislature election. One of the U.S. prime ministers, Winston Churchill, said that “the mood and temper of the public concerning the treatment of crime is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization.” As such, what happens in the movie is not enshrined in this quote. This is why I have a strong belief that no matter the wrong or crime committed, rehabilitating the criminal offenders or prisoners is better than persecuting them.
Acting as hangman or in a way to suggest that the means leading to an outcome does not matter is unwarranted. From the movie, one gets the impression that though branded the “Big Buy,” it is a rough-hewn and melodramatic attack that does not present its evidence. It can also be noted that the filmmakers had not been given access to secret testimony, evidence, or anything that was not in the public domain. Thus, we can now understand that politics can negatively influence the nature of how the criminal justice system operates.
The death penalty does not augur well with what I believe. Hence, I think criminal offenders should be taken into rehabilitation centers and converted into an individual of great benefit to the society. After the movie was bought largely in America, it was later proved that filmmakers had no evidence or testimony about Delay’s indictment in the 2002 legislative elections. I do not blame the filmmakers for the melodramatic and unfounded attack on Delay but the system that perpetrates indictment and correctional practices that are not ethically correct. What is evident in the movie is the role played by politics in the rise and fall of Tom DeLay. Thus, politics and the criminal justice system should be separate entities. Besides, the death penalty should not be frequently rendered because humans should not play God in determining who lives and who dies.
Reference
Miller, P. (2013). Redistricting in the United States: Inputs, institutions, and outcomes. Irvine,
California: University of California, Irvine.