Submitted by Rebecca King
Our Founding Fathers created a government of three co-equal branches with the specific intention that each would be a check on the others, preventing any one branch from becoming too powerful. In other words, Congress and the judiciary should act as checks on presidential power (and vice versa). However, our current Congress has capitulated entirely to President Trump, handing him unfettered power to disregard decades of legal norms and precedent. The 2026 midterm elections are the only opportunity voters have to rein in this Administration, as our Founders intended.
Unfortunately, pressured by Trump and led by Texas, Republican-controlled state legislatures are gerrymandering their voting districts to create more Republican seats in the House of Representatives, ensuring presidential power remains unchecked for the entirety of the Trump administration. In response, Prop 50 asks California voters to level the playing field for the upcoming midterms, and by doing so, provides an opportunity to check unfettered presidential power.
Prop 50 is a temporary measure. By its terms, the task of drawing Congressional districts returns to our stateās independent redistricting commission following the 2030 census.
Unchecked presidential power is not a partisan issue; we are all to blame. As George Washington warned in his Farewell Address, ā[political parties] are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.ā
It takes all of us to stop this. Therefore, I urge you to VOTE YES on Prop 50 and restore balance to our government.
Rebecca King
