Dan Walters: Question still hangs in the airwaves: Is California governable?

Sacramento Bee ^ | February 20, 2004 | Dan Walters

[John Jorsett]

HOLLYWOOD - Fifteen years ago, when Pete Wilson was thinking about giving up his U.S. Senate seat and running for governor of California, a very prominent political strategist privately chastised him for considering such a move because "California is ungovernable."

[John Jorsett]

Or, as the question would be framed by a California public school graduate, "Are California guvernuble?"

[45Auto]

There is nothing "complex" about California politics. The battle lines have been clearly drawn: one group of people (The Vermin), represented by the majority of communists in the Legislature want another group of people (The Minority of Those Who Actually Work) to pay for the first group's welfare.

[SunStar]

Dan Walters: Question still hangs in the airwaves: Is California governable?

Yes, if our "Govern"-ator decides to govern!

[21st Century Man]

California needs to be split into two states...it actually is more like a country that a state and is already culturally divided.

Unless things change in the near future for Kali, there is going to be a meltdown of epic proportions that will even wipe the smile of the face of a fool like Arnie, who is unable to grasp the underlying issues that the socialists and statists have created in that hellhole...

[AmericanVictory]

Wouldn't that mean taking a look at and seeking to encourage actual solutions to actual problems such as, not only a ludicrous worker's comp system, but a public health and welfare system overloaded with people in the state illegally, permitting and other legal and regulatory problems that stop new businesses, new power production, new refining, new housing, out of control gangs and crime, and most of all, creative technology solutions of an entrepeneurial type to the lousy air quality, water quaiity and water shortages, inadequate transportation and medical care that either is unaffordable for too many or inefficient and dangerous as it is in HMO's and other managed care operations?

[SunStar]

Wouldn't that mean taking a look at and seeking to encourage actual solutions to actual problems...

Yes. Oh yeah, most "conservatives" in the state, except for a million that I was a part of, voted for the wrong Republican. Oh well.

[Warlord David]

And the answer to the question is? NO!! Even now the mayor of San Francisco is doing what he wants. I challenge the conservative who are in office to take there cue from this mayor and do what ever they want. Like having the right to bear arms one be a good start.

[Amerigomag]

I beg to differ but with deference to the accuracy of your point.

California is becoming ungovernable. Ungovernable because of the very conclusion that Walters reached "a new sense of civic purpose that will impel politicians to act in the larger public interest".

What can be done to correct this problem. A big step would be to redistrict outside the control of the legislature.

As a consequence of the current redistricting plan that both parties invented and approved California is now served by a large group of single issue ideologues that don't have the best interests of the nation at heart let alone act in the larger public interestof California.

Those ideologues now sit in the pinnacle of power in both houses of the legislature and together constitute almost 40% of the combined bodies.

They can continue to act with impunity as long as they satisfy the interests of their monolithic constituents. Regardless of how selfish their actions they are well aware that they can withstand statewide indignation as long as they satisfy the single selfish need of the voters in their district.

John Burton, Fabian Nunez and Gil Cedillo are three excellent examples of the high art of the polished ideologue representing only the interests of the local, selfish constituents. They will bend the law, ignore common sense and endanger our national interests to achieve their constituent's goals.

This is not republican governance. This is the tyranny of the minority.

[45Auto]

I think your analysis is right; I was oversimplifying but the general tone is that minority special interests (or, perhaps majority special interests) have a lock on the commie legislature; so much so that I do not see any possibility of any real change and/or true reform of anything in the near future. The only possibility is to defeat the Governator's plan to borrow yet more money to paper over the debt for another year in the futile hopes that he can somehow garner a lot more tax revenue. The idea that that is possible without a tax increase on an already overburdened work force would be laughable if it wasn't so painful.

I would not be surprised to see it go down to defeat because the RAT-bastard voters do not want to make Arnold look good enough to be reelected. The Art of American Politics has long since degenerated from one of statesmanship to one of dirty deals, sellouts, payoffs, and general prostitution. Todays' politician understands only two things: money and power. They are not at all concerned about a popular uprising either in the streets or in the voting booth - so certain are they that we have ALL been co-opted into the system in one way or the other - that we all have too much to lose by upsetting the status quo. That being the case they do not have to be concerned about any type of reform or any type of fiscal responsibility - they really think they can keep borrowing and thieving in order to pay off the vermin who contribute to their election campaigns.

[Amerigomag]

(or, perhaps majority special interests)

If you examine the issues de jur ; homosexual marriage, acceptance of the status or illegal aliens or increasing taxes/borrowing, none, repeat none, are in favor with the mob (majority).

This is strictly a tyranny of the minority issue, pure and simple.

[45Auto]

Then short of armed rebellion, how the hell do we stop it? I have been fighting this crap and watching this charade develop and grow for a long time; there does not seem to be a way to arrest the course let alone reverse it. The California judiciary seems corrupt to the core; the courts are a big part of the problem. Together with the majority RAT-commies in the Legislature and until Arnold, a RAT-commie governor, there has been no way to stop or even to slow the juggernaut.

Acting in concert, the three branches of California government simply pass whatever the hell law they want. Unconstitutional? No problem. Find a commie judge and stamp it with an official approval. The voters pass a ballot measure to deprive illegals of tapping into the welfare net? No problem, find a commie judge to declare the proposition unconstitutional. File a lawsuit to overturn an unconstitutional gun law? No problem, find a commie judge to side with the enemies of freedom and uphold the law, the Constitution be damned. That is the state of political affairs and political reality in California today. And Arnold doesn't have the political clout nor the will to do anything about it at all. The state AG, Bill (I Hate Your Guns) Lockyer wants to run for governor on the all-Commie team. Chances are good that he will win. And then we can be set for another round of Marxism Is Good For You.