Opinion: Prop. 50 is crucial to the moral fabric of our country

A sign for a polling place in San Diego County File photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego In my countless years living in California ballot propositions have come and gone But none have I felt are as crucial to the moral fabric of our state and country as Proposition the Referendum Rigging Response Act When I was in middle and high school I often bought and sold original historical manuscripts and letters One of my earliest purchases at auction was a hand-written contract signed by Elbridge Gerry for a personal loan he made to an acquaintance Having just learned about gerrymandering in school it was intoxicating for me to hold in my adolescent hands the handwriting of not only the namesake of this concept but also a signer of the Declaration of Independence My feelings about Prop mirror the complex feelings I encountered when I interacted with Gerry s late eighteenth-century penmanship On the one hand the concept of gerrymandering repulsed me and it still does But somehow this was overpowered by the emotion of holding in my hands one of the signatures that appears on the Declaration of Independence There is something ineffable and transcendent about possessing a piece of paper that was read and signed by a man who was willing to put his life reputation and future on the line for what was a highly risky experiment in democracy freedom and the rule of law Prop lands me in familiar emotional territory I don t think any of us think of it as a noble or ideal concept Our state affirms this through its esteemed redistricting reforms and the creation of the bipartisan California Redistricting Commission At our core we believe in fair and impartial maps But American democracy has never been under such a calculated siege by those seeking to wield authoritarian power Gov Gavin Newsom is doing what I attempt to do in my own ministry every day sound the alarm that the vision Elbridge Gerry affirmed when he signed the Declaration of Independence is under attack This is urgent In January despite my invitations to local colleagues I was the only clergyperson in the village of La Jolla to publicly sign a pledge to use my ministry voice and platform to resist the Trump administration s immoral agenda This pledge hangs on the door of my office Every Sunday following the benediction my congregation sings a response that says in part God is our only king of this beloved land if anyone suggests to take that name against them we will stand I recognize my local colleagues refusal to join me Their reluctance might stem more from holding together politically mixed and complex congregations than personal sentiments But let me assure you this isn t the time for middle-ground milquetoast platitudes The President of the United States has attacked free speech is deploying the military against our own cities and is terrorizing communities with masked ICE agents Proposition is our chance to fight back to rally behind Gov Newsom and to be the one state in this republic that will preserve the promise of democracy for future generations We have a chance in California to be the leaders of the free world when those in Washington have shunned that mantle of responsibility Never did I imagine that I would say redistricting would rise to the level of moral imperative But it has And I am required by the vows of my ordination to call our attention to it Rev Tim Seery is the pastor of the Congregational Church of La Jolla