Posted on 11/10/2005 9:34:16 AM PST by NormsRevenge
There's no mistaking the larger message behind the results of Tuesday's special election. Despite campaigns that spent more than $250 million, every one of the eight ballot initiatives was defeated. It was a rejection not only of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but of the entire political process.
Interestingly, this vote did not break down along party ideologies. Voters uniformly rejected both the conservative initiatives such as the abortion-notification law, Proposition 73, and the liberal proposals to punish pharmaceutical interests, Proposition 79, and tighten energy regulations, Proposition 80.
Obviously, Californians were fed up.
They were fed up with the months of deceitful propaganda spewed by both sides. They were fed up with the lies about what the propositions would and wouldn't do, lies funded in record numbers by both union and corporate special interests.
They were fed up with the leaders they elected for refusing to work together. They were fed up that Sacramento has grown so polarized and paralyzed that lawmakers must turn to the people to make decisions as mundane as whether to increase the probation period for new teachers.
The people have spoken resoundingly, and said no.
This was a colossal smackdown of Schwarzenegger, who is widely seen as having become part of the problem in Sacramento, rather than the solution. But it was in no way a reflection of support for the tax-and-spend Democratic legislators, who have offered only partisan attacks, and no positive proposals for how to make life better for the people of the state.
As low as the governor has sunk in the polls, he still is held in higher esteem the Legislature, which has failed in its duty for a generation. This was no mandate for more of the Legislature's shenanigans. It was proof of voter fatigue with politics as usual.
It's time to put the fighting aside and to end the gridlock. The governor and Sacramento Democrats must work together in the interest of the public to come up with real solutions. The worst thing politicians could do now is to allow the corporate and union interests that bankrolled this campaign to try and collect on their chits.
But we are entering an election year, and the egos and ambitions are sure to take over. But let the politicians beware: Public resentment toward the failure of government is growing. Those who put themselves and the special interests that fund them ahead of the public interest should know they may well suffer the consequences. Caveat politico.
CUT CUT CUT !!!
Get me rewrite ASAP!
Hey, we haven't even funded the HSR .. Yet!! ;-)
That's the message of the voters in CA, according to this editorial. Actually, I think it's a little more subtle than that. The voters are, overwhelmingly, rats. But a lot of even them see that their party crashed the state in only five years. For those rats who have realized how badly their party has done, Schwartznegger is their non-crash insurance--and that comprises a majority for Schwartznegger.
But they aren't, and will probably never be, ready to give actual political power over to R's.
My prediction is that the next item on the agenda will be a tax increase.
Like i've been saying Tuesday across the board was a vote for status quo...a vote for no change... it was not the big left/Dem. win that been spun if you look at what really happen.... now if you want to make the case left/Dem. won because they stopped there slid and didn't loose ground...I guess you could make a case but they didn't gain... it was a push
My prediction is that you are right. But it's a tough row-to-hoe for them if the Dems do it without R buy-in. When I left CA, my marginal STATE tax rate was over 10%. You can't increase that too much. That means hitting the middle class. That hurts at the polls.
If property taxes increase to market value, that will tank the Calif. real estate market. That hurts at the polls.
So somehow, the dems need to con some R's into supporting the tax increase. They might succeed. They got a group of elite R's to go along with a big tax increase in CO this year so they will pay no price for it.
Too bad McClintock's got a lazy eye, or California wouldn't be in this mess right now.
With so much at stake, that being the case as to how some folks cast their vore, It's too bad folks didn't just put blind-folds when the Recall debates went down and just listened.
It shows the shallowness of some voters and how they vote.
Hw the hell did Nixon ever get elected is my other comment. ;-) I cast the first of all my votes for Rs as President for him, of course, he was my C-in-C too..
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
To win yes votes Arnold needed to explain the inner workings of Sacramento and the state's government to a voting population that has never been exposed to that level of civics. To win no votes all the unions needed was millions of dollars and a s#!t-load of lies!
Translation: The LA Daily News wants the reader to believe that the voters want "the leaders" to agree to tax hikes.
What a bunch of BS. I have simpler explanation. The state has been taken over by Left wing idiots.
It was the best election Union money could buy. People weren't fed up, they were lied to.
I'd like to suggest a new state motto:
"California--Still Stuck on Stupid."
Correct. The majority in California (due to a supermajority in the coastal urban zones) are addicted to the teat of the welfare state. Most people here would fit right in in Europe.
California--Still Stuck on Stupid Spending
There. :-)
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.