Like hundreds of thousands of other Californians, I am about to lose representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

That will occur if voters decide this November 4 to accept Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Election Rigging Response ” scheme to undermine California’s independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and gerrymander congressional district maps that effectively turn five mostly Republican regions into Democrat enclaves.

I live in the 41^st District, and my congressman is Republican Ken Calvert, who has represented my area of Riverside County since 1993. So, even though Calvert won reelection in 2024 by a majority of the district’s voters, he will be kicked out of office if Newsom’s devious gerrymandering ruse, deftly camouflaged as “Proposition 50,” is approved.

The 41^st District seat in western Riverside County, once reliably Republican, was already “swingier” after the last round of redistricting in 2022, when it was extended into the liberal Coachella Valley. But Rep. Calvert, a Corona Republican, squeaked through several serious challenges, winning last November by fewer than four percentage points. His long tenure may finally be over. The new map would break apart Calvert’s district and redistribute the voters, while adding back a historic Democratic seat in southeast Los Angeles County.

Meanwhile, most of my conservative neighbors and I will be in a new blue district controlled by Democrats. That’s California politics in action, folks.

The special election is expected to cost California taxpayers about $250 million, thus adding to the state’s already ballooning $12 billion budget deficit. But votes are votes, and Newsom figures adding another $250 million to the state’s already onerous debt load is worth it.

Who cares that Californians voted in 2010 to remove the redrawing of legislative districts from the conniving hands of unethical politicians like Newsom in favor of a non-partisan, independent Citizens Redistricting Commission?

An independent Citizens Redistricting Commission was fine as long as Democrats secretly knew they could override it whenever they didn’t like the way the state’s districts voted or if Republicans flipped too many of California’s Democratic seats.

That is precisely what Newsom and his pack of Democrat malefactors in Sacramento decided to do when Texas redrew five Republican-dominated districts so their voters would be fairly represented in the House.

The results of the 2024 presidential election revealed that about 40 percent of California voters identified as Republican. Still, Republicans currently hold only nine of California’s 52 House seats, which is expected to be reduced to just four if Proposition 50 passes in November.

The Texas redistricting affair was the excuse Newsom and his Democrat minions needed to keep California Republicans from gaining any political power in the one-party state.

It seems to me that voters should be picking their politicians; politicians should not be picking their voters. But hey, that’s just me—a humble plebeian in the socialist/communist dominated hell-hole that California has become under Newsom’s despotism.

Because California is a one-party state, Democrats have been able to get away with just about anything. They have little to no opposition in Sacramento, where the legislature is essentially a rubber-stamp political club for Democrats.

The result of this authoritarianism is a state in severe decline. Actually, in free-fall might be a better description.

Newsom and his Democrat comrades have run a once-magnificent state into an abyss of degradation. California, which has about one-eighth of America’s total population, is home to more than 50% of the nation’s homeless people.

It has the nation’s highest gas prices—currently about $4.50 for regular unleaded, or about $1.60 more per gallon than the national average. Housing prices are off the charts in California, and currently, only about 35 percent of the population owns their homes. The median sale price of a house in California today is $871,000, according to Redfin Realty Company.

If gas and housing prices were the only issues, I might be jumping for joy.

However, according to a new report by Consumer Affairs, a customer review and consumer news platform, California is the worst state in America for raising a family.

Let THAT sink in. California is the worst state in the nation for raising a family!

To determine the best states in which to raise a family in 2025, the Consumer Affairs research team compared all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., across five key categories: affordability, education, healthcare, safety, and quality of life.

California ranked 51^st—dead last, according to the report. The Golden State ranked 46th for affordability, 40^th for K-12 education, 17th for pediatric health care, 40th for safety, and 50th for quality of life.

Now, to top it all off, an outbreak of the Black Plague was reported the other day in the Lake Tahoe area.

So, why, you might ask, am I still here?

I would be dishonest if I didn’t acknowledge that California is probably the most beautiful place I have ever lived. Not only is the weather ideal, but the scenery is breathtaking. The entire state has a coastline touching the Pacific Ocean. It is replete with towering mountains, lush forests, expansive deserts, and fertile farms that grow every fruit and vegetable, from apples to zucchini.

For a kid who grew up on the tedious Kansas prairie, California is like living on a different planet.

Unfortunately, that planet has evolved into a hostile and unwelcoming place, replete with rampant crime, unremitting congestion on its overburdened, under-maintained freeways, and sky-high prices for most necessities.

I have two daughters who are now adults with their own children, and fortunately, only one of them is still in California. Of course, my other daughter is in Portland, Oregon, and that state is, in many ways, worse than California. But that’s a story for another day.

What can I say? I guess my family members are gluttons for misery and abuse. The same applies to anyone who runs for public office in California who is not a Democrat.

In fact, anybody who decides to run for governor of California against the potent Democratic machine must be ill-advised, if not downright masochistic.

That’s what I think when I listen to Republican Steve Hilton, a Brit and former Fox talk show host, who is campaigning to replace Newsom.

“California once meant to America what America means to the world,” Hilton said in a recent interview, emphasizing what initially drew him to the Golden State. “But that’s not how it is today. We’re not known for the positive things that inspire people around the world. We’re famous for the apocalyptic scenes of wildfires, dystopian urban chaos and crime, and thousands of homeless people wandering around like zombies.”

Amen, Steve Hilton.

But once Newsom and his gerrymandering comrades are finished expunging Republicans from the legislative map, how can a Republican even get elected dog catcher in this state?

Newsom is the quintessential absentee-governor. He has been running for President since he was elected California governor in 2019. He doesn’t give a tinkers’ damn about the “Golden State” that he has sullied and blighted. His goal has always been, and remains, the White House.

God help us all if Governor “Hair Gel” ever gains access to that venerated dwelling, because he will “Californicate” America.

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