I haven't seen much discussion on Hexbear about Prop 50 and I'm curious to see what comrades here think about it. I know that its outcome mainly benefits the bourgeois political establishment, but I'm wondering if there might be a bit more nuance to it. Here are a bunch of rough thoughts that I've had about it.

Arguments for voting YES

Ramsey Robinson (the Peace and Freedom candidate for Governor of California, who is also endorsed by

This November, California voters are set to decide on the redistricting efforts. The Ramsey Robinson for Governor campaign is urging working class voters to vote YES on Proposition 50, in favor of increasing the number of districts. Voting Yes will help make life harder for the ultra-right billionaires attacking our wages, working conditions, and healthcare while recklessly cutting taxes on the rich and spending trillions on war. This current redistricting fight is a crucial battleground against Trump’s power grab and the racist, disenfranchising gerrymandering seen in states like Texas, where the voting power of mostly Black and Latino voters would be eliminated.

Redistricting alone will not solve these problems. Newsom and the Democratic elites across the country are a major reason we are in this situation in the first place. Despite having multiple chances, and a clear mandate, Democrats failed to defend voting rights, making gerrymandering like what is happening in Texas easier. They pursued disastrous policies that didn’t solve, and often didn’t address the real needs of the working class. Their disastrous policies and inaction set the table for conmen like Trump to ride into office on the backs of desperation and disillusionment among wide swaths of the population.

We can’t rely on the Democrats, or the Republicans to solve the challenges facing working class people across this state. Our true solutions include proportional representation, banning big money from politics, and ending the two-party monopoly. Working people need their own party and socialist solutions to the problems billionaires create. So, vote Yes on redistricting, then join the Peace and Freedom Party as we work to contest every possible election in California. From voting rights to living wages to peace and sustainability PFP is the only party presenting solutions that meet the scale of the problem. Let’s do more than stop Trump, let's build a socialist future!

(TL; DR: basically, it makes things a bit harder for the ultra-right politicians to do what they want to do, but it's insufficient and we also have to organize outside of the bourgeois political establishment.)

• The proposition is in response to Texas taking voting rights away from Black and Latino voters, and would give them slightly more (flawed, bourgeois) political representation within the current system
• If 50 were to pass, it makes it harder for the Democrats to pretend to oppose the fascist policies that Trump is enacting, as currently they're just saying "Well what can we say, our hands are tied, you should have voted harder." If they have a majority in the House then they might have to come up with more excuses for why they're unable to do anything. I can't find a Blue MAGA emoji but I'd put it here if I could. That, or a senate parliamentarian emoji.
• Something similar to like "well, Zohran can't be much worse than whomever else, and it would fast track the disillusionment of more would-be leftists"

Arguments for abstaining

• Participating in bourgeois elections should not be done unless voting for a vanguard party as a statement or way of boosting their popularity
• In either case we get one of two bourgeois parties "representing" our interest, which doesn't help anything

Arguments for voting NO

• Punishes the Democrats, who are all in all terrible and not providing any real resistance to anything that Trump is doing, and actively support the genocide in Gaza
• Hurts Gavin Newsom, which is potentially relevant since it seems like the DNC is setting him up to be the next ghoul to get the fast track to the nomination

(Also please don't kill me for asking about whether/how to engage in bourgeois electoralism. I wouldn't actively vote for a Dem even as harm reduction at this point, but this is more abstract and could maybe have some benefits. I am mostly just interested to hear the takes of other like-minded individuals.)