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President Washington warned us about Governor Newsom

September 23, 2025

Next to the Constitution on each of our desks rests a letter. The words are 230 years old but serve as a stark reminder about prioritizing principle over partisanship from someone who did precisely that. The words are George Washington’s. That letter was his Farewell Address. Washington warned that political parties would become “engines by which ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people.”

Washington spoke not as a partisan, but as a patriot leaving office voluntarily, an unprecedented act at the time. He chose to put the nation above himself and warned that factions would prioritize their survival over the Republic’s survival. History has proved him right. From Reconstruction to Watergate to today, the people always lose when parties put power above principle.

That is why the independent redistricting commission was created in the first place: to put voters back in charge of drawing fair lines, insulated from the political whims of Sacramento, so that citizens rather than politicians hold the pen. We insisted commission maps reflect our values: transparency, bipartisanship, and keeping communities of interest together because geography and culture are the ties that bind. Competitive races were a feature, not a bug, of this system designed to strengthen democracy for everyone.

Washington’s warning echoes from the grave in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scheme for partisan gain. The plan: Californians would set aside “just this one time” the independent redistricting commission they voted not once but twice to enshrine in the state constitution and that has only grown in popularity in the 15 years since its passage. Proposition 50 asks California voters to second-guess our judgment, abandon a gold-standard nonpartisan commission, and cede our constitutional authority to the Legislature because “this time is different.”

Newsom casts this as a patriotic march across the Delaware — Washington’s daring gamble that turned the tide of the Revolution and history. In truth, it is a march off a cliff. The prize? Five more seats in the U.S. House to check President Donald Trump. The price tag: a whopping $300 million. The hidden cost: our voice.

Make no mistake, if we normalize this kind of maneuver, it will not end with redistricting. Today, it is congressional lines. Tomorrow, it may be state legislative districts, tax policy, environmental protections, or even voting rights themselves. Once the precedent is set that the Legislature can overturn the people’s decisions whenever it suits them, nothing decided at the ballot box will ever be safe again. Every reform will be vulnerable and every safeguard will be temporary. The independence Californians fought to secure will be undone by a single vote.

Proposition 50 is not about party, and every Californian should be alarmed and dismayed at what we are seeing. Protecting independent fair maps and representation should unite us all because voting is the lifeblood of our democracy. Division is the real enemy ripping at our social fabric, and Proposition 50 only accelerates it.

In the best case, billions will be spent lining the pockets of special interests and consultants instead of helping everyday Californians. In the worst case, the state constitution will be torn apart by party-bought politicians seizing the reins of government, just as Washington feared. He knew of what he wrote, having witnessed the crown levy tax after tax on the colonies “just this one time,” over and over, until rebellion became inevitable.

Proposition 50 is a rip current pulling voters out to sea. Californians should not have to choose between good governance and partisan loyalty. Our system works best when voters, not politicians, draw the lines. Protecting that principle is not about blue or red, but about whether we believe in democracy itself. Washington urged us to think as Americans first, not partisans. His challenge falls to us now.

The future is in our hands, and we will never be the same again unless we vote NO on Proposition 50.

Janet Nguyen is the Orange County supervisor for the First District, Gracey Van Der Mark is a Huntington Beach councilwoman, and Jason Schmitt is the city treasurer of Huntington Beach.

Orange County Register

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President Washington warned us about Governor Newsom

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