Posted on 10/28/2010 6:03:24 PM PDT by Jim Noble
I have a serious question. California is in desperate straits. Your budget is out of control. Your government gives me directives about personal hygiene when I check into a hotel. I can't walk around in San Francisco without being accosted or worse by criminals (and, I was born, raised, and lived in Brooklyn NY in the worst Beame years).
Now, everybody in California knows this. Liberals can't walk around SF either. They can add, and they can read, and they know the state is bankrupt with no way out.
How then is it even possible for Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer to be re-elected?
OK, fine, I get that.
But the jig is up. Don't be no mo $$ in Jerry Brown's stash.
What do these "suburban white women" think is going to happen?
Tuesday morning I will vote for both of them. Fiorina can still win. Today’s poll has her down by three within the margin of error. Whitman thought that money could purchase the election. She came off as “I know better than you” in her ads. She did not want any association with the tea parties and got no support there. I know she’s a Romney-ite, but if so, where is he? Haven’t seen her hero anywhere.
The question is, why didn’t we get better candidates who could relate to voters and motivate them to support the ticket. There is energy in the House races, some of which will transfer to the governor’s race, but it should be the other way around. Tom McClintock is spending lots of money on ads in his House race when he doesn’t need to as he has almost no opposition. He ran against Arnold for the Republican nomination but I guess he doesn’t want to be governor anymore.
A second question is- If we elected a Republican governor, could they actually govern without the dems in the legislature being thrown out? I don’t think so.
For those of us in the Golden State facing four years of Brown, Nevada is starting to look very good.
Yeah, but governor and US Senator are statewide.
Californians try to escape the California culture by moving to another state, only to carry their political baggage behind them like a lead weight.
Pleae, PLEASE, don’t come to my state. We have to put up with enough ‘Ester-oids.’
It's similar to the "battered wife" syndrome. There are tons of books and dissertations written on the subject, but in short people prefer the devil that they know to the devil that is unknown.
On top of that, there is a suspicious absence of new leaders and a considerable advantage of the incumbent. That advantage won't ruin chances of a good candidate, but it is enough to prevail over a weak opponent.
The system is not set up to promote new candidates with good ideas. For example, pretty much any FR contributor would be better than the current selection. But in order to win you need qualities that are totally different from what it takes to govern well. You need to be part of "old boys/girls network". You need to command significant financial resources, yours or (better) someone else's. You need to have talent in winning elections. Note that the skill of winning is very much different from the skill of governing - just ask Obama. On top of all that you should be able to survive character assassinations - small ones will occur anyway, but if you are not supported by the powers that be then these assassinations, done in hundreds by journalistic hitmen, will completely destroy you. Honest people don't want to find themselves starring in a porno clip on YouTube (and not in the role of the goat, mind you) and they will have no resources to prevent, or fight, such a thing.
All in all, we would be much better off if all elected offices are filled by picking a random name from the phone book. Set the term to one year, and make sure the office holder is properly incentivized to work well. This way we at least have a chance to put a good man into the office now and then, and the short term limit controls the damage from bad officials. Right now practically all politicians are bad, and they aren't going anywhere.
I'm not one of the ones you have to worry about. You want to shut down some abortion clinics, deport some illegals, or check ID at the polls? I'm with you.
If not for my wife's long attachment to this place, we would have left for a free state long ago.
One of the most effective ads I have seen is out of the Brown campaign, showing Whitman and Schwartzenegger saying virtually the same things. I voted for Whitman but my expectations are very low. As for Governor Moonbeam, we have been there and done that.
Kalifornia will recover only after the most disastrous experience one can imagine. I expect great upheavals in the next year or two.
But I have been expecting that for some time. The Dems and Rinos have simply continued sweeping the problems under the rug. It's lucky Kalifornia can't print money. I am hoping that a Republican Congress won't print money for them.
Your post shows why it is IMPERATIVE that we keep the electoral college in place, and as you may know things are well under way to remove it.
Including here in NJ.
I am hoping NJ will have a real republican revival, because the Nation needs us to.
Kalifoniaiiaaa can elect whomever they want, but I’m with Glen Beck who’s pledged to make it his life’s work to make sure they never get anymore Federal bailout money as they sink into the bankruptcy brought on by their incredible stupidity......
Freepers are always welcome!
Serious answer.
The number of voting people on the dole, on the take in California, combined with the Utopian dreamers who decide everything by “feelings”, not logic, have finally combined to substantially exceed the numbers of those who are rational, who work and pay taxes and contribute.
There are 4 registered Democratic Party voters for every 3 registered Republican Party voters. This is a huge imbalance that makes it almost impossible for Republicans to win statewide election.
You can thank GW Bush for leaving the California border wide open with Mexico and flooding California with Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal. Since the California Democrats insure that you can vote without any ID, voter fraud is rampant with illegals voting early and often.
Do you realize how non-white California is? I don’t mean this in racial terms. I mean this as an indicator of the massive flood of recent immigrants into California.
Try this on for size: 45% of ALL Californians speak a non-English language at home. ALMOST 50% of Californians do not speak English in their home.
42% of Californians are white non-Hispanics, per the 2010 Census.
36% of Californians are Hispanics. In a few years, there will be more Hispanics than White non-Hispanics. They are mostly poor and vote Democrat to stay on the dole. 2/3 of all Hispanic voters voted for Jerry Brown in the last election.
7% of Californians are black and 98% of them voted for Jerry Brown.
There is your answer. It is the changed demographics of California, with middle class white tax payers leaving the state, replaced with lower class Hispanics earning low wages and qualifying for a myriad of government assistant entitlements.
This is a structural problem that will never turn around in at least a half-decade. As lower class Hispanics branch out into cities throughout California, there will be greater retiree white flight to other states, and the cycle will result in California becoming vastly majority Hispanic, and mired in poverty and corruption.
This is the future of California. Mark my words. California is doomed. Flat doomed.
Thank you Jorge Bush for adding 8 more years of illegal alien mass-immigration to the 8 Clinton years. The demographics have spoken. Republicans elected to California state wide office will be very few and very far between.
Get used to it. We are doomed. California is so screwed.
As for me, I am counting the years until I move to Virginia.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.