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But, putting aside that emotional response on my part, on a purely intellectual level, my experience tells me that a Schwarzenegger governorship presents great dangers to the conservative movement, and to the future shape of the GOP both in CA and nationally.
He will strengthen liberals in the party--those whose strength is already far beyond their numbers.
He will muddy the waters in the political debates that determine the course of policy in this country; thereby slowing progress towards restoring our institutions.
Contrary to what some of my detractors around here would think or claim, I can be quite pragmatic. Politics is the art of the possible to a great degree. A mark of sanity is being able to live in the world according to how it exists, not the way we want it to be.
But there are lines that cannot be crossed; compromises that should not be made; ideals that, if abandoned, represent utter failure and defeat. The support for any pro-Abortion, anti-Second Amendment candidate anywhere at any time falls into that category.
Just my opinion.

And good points they are...the fact is that California is so far gone into Socialism that I don't want anyone with an "R" behind their name in a position to catch any blame for what has happened in the state. Mark my works, whomever wins this recall will have to pander to liberal fools that have overrun the State. It is the great experiment in Socailism and it is failing - let's keep the D's in charge until the State utterly implodes upon itself. I know that sounds harsh, but if all the conservatives abandon the damn place we can all point to it as an example of what happens. Hell, my home State of Maryland is close on California's heels - and we've just got a R governor - watch how the liberals screw him in the next 3 years. But I digress - if AS wins, he will not be able to enact conservative policies even if he wanted to. (And there certainly is debate over whether he's even conservative to begin with - but it doesn't matter)

Back to AS, my concern is the overall effect a AS victory would have on the liberal vs conservative battle that is coming from within the Republican party.

If AS wins, the liberal R's will have a very strong argument that we can sweep the nation with R candidates of that stripe: "after all, just look at how we took California" will be the mantra.

What effect will that have on American politics long term...suppose the liberal R's, on the wave of an AS victory, co-opt the Party and being pushing RINO's over good conservatives in primarys. If they then get elected over D's in general elections it will further strengthen the idea that R's need to be "moderate" or "social liberals" to get elected. And to stay elected they will have to pander to the friggin liberal voters...what the hell does it matter what the letter is after an official's name if the programs being promulgated are liberal/socialist?

What about those conservative R's across the country that vote in elections. Will they stand still for this? Probably not. Will the conservatives either leave the Republican Party or just sit out elections? Probably both - some will leave, some will just give up...once they are totally disenfranchised by their own party what are they to do?

Now the voting block of people that actually vote for a candidate with an "R" behind their name is cut drastically and next thing you know, D's, who will not leave their party and are only interested in voting for someone with a "D" behind their name regardless of how Socialist the Party is*, are getting elected all over the country and it continues to slide further into the shitter.

What happened to the Newt-fueled conservative revolution???? Where have all the conservatives and brains gone?

Just my weekend rant...sorry.

*Footnote - At our local fair I was sitting at a booth for my employer, across from the local D Party booth...totally devoid of any campaign issues in our county, the signs at the booth read "Vote for the Democrats." No agenda for the Party. No reason to choose a D over an R based on positions on issues. No reason to vote for their candidates other than Party affiliation. Very insightful into what the Democratic Party has become.

Excellent post. Personally, I'm not sure which is worse - a Rat in power with no idea what to do (except to spend taxpayers money, build up debt, buy votes, and move to socialism), or a Rat with a (eg. gay, feminist, Anti-American, radical environmentalist, etc.) agenda. Either way, generally Rats don't show their policies.

As for using places like CA as examples of how - and why - socialism don't work, I think the world already has seen enough examples. Eastern Europe is *still* recovering from the train wreck known as the USSR; the new republics that have recovered the best are the one who have had leaders who have made their state's governments smaller and put through market economy reforms. It's really amazing that - with countries like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia, etc. all desperately trying to privatize state owned industry and make governments smaller, so many in the west want to move in the opposite direction.

If the world needs more examples, look at the ensuing trainwreck in Zimbabwe, the starvation and famine in North Korea, the fact that "New Years Day, 1958" hasn't hit Cuba yet, the FARC Terrorists in Colombia and their drug trade (no wonder the leftists want hard drugs legalized!). And I needn't even mention what a train wreck Iraq was under "Saddam & sons" despotic rule!

The socialist experiment has been tried before, repeatedly. And - either from outside forces, or rejection from their own citizens - has been a failure. And - with the current crop of attempts at socialism, really no impartial outsider could honestly say that the citizens are really better off than they would be in a free society, with a market economy.

Right now, California is undertaking its own experiment in socialism. We know that the people who ignored history's lessons (and are pushing it through) are doomed to repeat it, and like the Soviet Union (or Saddam's Iraq, or North Korea, or Red China, etc.), this is going to end up as *another* massive train wreck.

And, really, we have 2 choices here.

We can either sit back, watch it happen, and after the fact say "We told you so". Or we can - at least economically - do something to stop this trainwreck.

Keep in mind, also, that California has one of the biggest economies in the union. It is also home to a lot of America's tech industry; essential if America has plans to stay as a world power in the long term. A high taxing CA could see many tech companies continue to relocate key businesses offshore. This is *NOT* the West Virgina economy we're talking about here.

Really, standing back and doing nothing right now is like standing back while a school appoints a gay kindergarden teacher and then saying "I told you so" when the child abuse cases hit down the track. In that case, I wouldn't stand by silent, and I'm not keen on standing silent now.

Should Arnie be governor of California? Or is California ready for full fledged conservative government? Honestly, I'm not sure. But I am sure that the Rats have got to be kicked out of Sacremento.