Is There An Upside to Ohio’s Proposed Redistricting Reform Measure?

What’s the point of political power if you don't use it? For a majority of Ohioans, the status quo system just isn’t working FOR THEM.

Let me start off by saying given how the Left has operated over the last eight years, I’m a major proponent of the aggressive use of political power. As readers of this column and my Twitter feed know, I am constantly (1) deriding “Victorian Era Republicanism” in which greater focus goes to following Robert’s Rules of Order than wielding the mantle of power and (2) chiding politicians who use hearings and their social media accounts more to generate fundraising clickbait than to hound the Left with subpoenas, impeachments, and indictments. The points of political power in our modern era are to get important work done for Main Street Americans and to marginalize the other side in the process.

The problem in Ohio, however, is that the current redistricting system has delivered the Right a trifecta supermajority government that gets little to nothing done for Main Street Ohioans. For thirteen years, Ohioans have watched Republicans in other states with smaller political margins get far more done. After eight years of John Kasich and five years of Mike DeWine-Jon Husted, Ohio is no closer to these core policy reforms than it was when Democrat Ted Strickland occupied the Governor’s Office and control of the Ohio House was in Democrat’s hands:

• Freeze state spending and eliminate Medicaid expansion so we can phase out the state income tax;

• Enact right-to-work;

• Streamline local governments to reduce the overall local tax burden;

• Get rid of ineffective JobsOhio and use its resources to create a world-class airport; 

• Rebalance funding by shifting funds away from higher education to technology/trade education opportunities to benefit the 85% of K-12 graduates who don’t get a college degree; and

• Institute political reforms by adopting pay for performance, replacing term limits with a time limit, and decentralizing state government outside of Columbus.

Without these vital reforms, Ohio’s private sector remains moribund, with the 37th best recovery from the DeWine-Husted pandemic shutdown, and we continue to lose our best and brightest workers to other states, as a majority of Ohio counties hollow out. Other than the sycophantic wealthy Republican donors who check their successful business brains at the door (apparently they only focus on getting an actual return on their investment in every area of life other than in politics) and continue to write large checks to the same career politicians who have failed to deliver much of anything to Ohioans, the rest of Ohio has to wonder what is the point to a trifecta Republican supermajority government? For more than two decades, Ohio’s private sector is among America’s weakest, our population has barely grown with as many leaving as coming and being born, and our political power has shrunk as other states grew thereby taking our congressional seats and Electoral Votes. Other than from 2007 to 2011, Republicans controlled the Governor’s Office and the Ohio General Assembly.

It is in this context that I most respectfully and sincerely ask the question: is there an upside to Ohio’s proposed redistricting reform measure? 

Put another way, would those currently in control work harder and deliver MORE for Ohioans if their control depended on the outcome of the election every two years? Under the current system, Republicans know they won’t lose political control so they can make promises during election seasons they have no real intent to get done once restored to office. In a very real sense, every two years they take us to the prom only to leave with another date. If, however, Ohio House and Ohio Senate districts were drawn so that as many seats as possible were as close to 50-50 districts thereby putting control over the legislature in play every two years, would our elected officials actually feel compelled to justify their reelection to earn our votes? Would they start begging us to go with them to the prom and remain by our side throughout the dance?

I suspect they just might. Such a competitive system certainly can’t be worse for Ohioans. I’m not saying I want the redistricting reform to succeed; rather, I’m simply so bloody fed up with Ohio’s Republican trifecta supermajority government getting so little done for Ohioans that I’m open to something different. It is maddening to watch state-after-state get more done every year thereby widening the competitive gap on Ohio and attracting our most productive workers and businesses. I explored a run for Ohio Governor last year out of that frustration, as becoming Ohio Governor wouldn’t be a step up for me. After burning both ends for decades, I now have a great life with no real desire to become a career politician like Husted. As a fifth generation Ohioan, I was willing to sacrifice my great life for a few years to force through vital reforms in order to restore Ohio’s greatness, with every intention of disappearing thereafter. Unfortunately, Republican primary voters remain too attracted to empty titles like "Lieutenant Governor" than proven talent backed by powerful ideas and decades of getting things done.

Time will tell if a majority of Ohioans opt to roll the dice with the redistricting reforms, but no one should be surprised if they do, as the status quo just isn’t working FOR THEM. What’s the point of political power if you don’t use it?

P.S. As you know, I’ve long argued that the Communist Chinese Government intentionally allowed the Wuhan/COVID virus to come West in order to hurt America and undermine Donald Trump’s reelection effort. After four-and-a-half years, the Chinese have still not explained why they closed down ALL domestic travel from Wuhan/Hubei Province to other parts of China while they KEPT INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL WIDE OPEN. I’ve never believed that the virus hitting America hard began just after Trump finalized the Phase One trade deal with China after he had driven the Communist Chinese Government to its knees was coincidental. At the end of January 2020, America’s economy was booming and creating jobs for Americans of all genders, races, educational backgrounds, and physical abilities; the southern border was secure, with illegal immigration reduced to a very manageable level; the global world order was calmer than it had been for decades; America had achieved energy independence; and the curtailment of the federal regulatory leviathan was well under way. Few expected Trump to lose the 2020 election despite the Left’s and media's four-year trench warfare of fake news, disinformation, misinformation, hoaxes, and lies. No serious person believes that, had the virus been contained in Asia and not exploded into a global pandemic, the 43,000-vote margin in three states that Joe Biden won by would have occurred. Trump would have been reelected by hitting 325+ Electoral Votes and the last four years would have been so much better for America. A recent Wall Street Journal piece with an accompanying graph supports my belief that Trump had broken China so it struck back.

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