Posted on 11/12/2005 10:17:08 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Tuesday's special election marked the sixth time California voters have gone to the polls since the March 2002 primary election.
That meant it was the sixth go-round of endless television commercials, campaign mailers — and trying to grasp the true meaning and impact of a plethora of ballot initiatives.
Instead of patting themselves on the back for surviving such an onslaught, voters get to do it two more times next year.
As much as they might like to, voters can't ignore the 2006 primary and general elections because important issues loom.
There's a governor's race, as well as congressional and state Senate and Assembly races.
And voters will have to decide the fate of another batch of complicated ballot initiatives.
They certainly sent a strong message this week, rejecting all eight special election ballot initiatives, including four pushed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, who said they were key to his efforts to reform state government.
"This week was a real sign that you don't want to push for an unwanted election," says David Schecter, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno.
The good news is that Republican and Democratic leaders, as well as those behind broader governmental reform efforts, seem to have learned there's a limit to voter patience, especially on initiatives.
"You can only go to the well so many times," Schecter says. "You can only ask voters so many times to make public policy."
Voters fed up with endless election cycles in general and governing by ballot propositions in particular — as opposed to old-fashioned political debate — may take out their wrath with another collection of "no" votes on the initiatives, worthwhile or not.
It's likely those backing the coming initiatives aren't resting too easy right now.
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
Yeah yeah, too many elections.
God forbid we have the F'ING RIGHT to determine our own destiny rather than have it dictated to us by tyrants!
Personally, I am inclined to support a part-time legislature initiative being placed on the ballot and soon as it seems having a full-time legislature is too costly in more ways than one and has become more and more ineffective and unable in making things click and in not doing more harm than good when it comes to the state's economic and social well-being.
Many, not all, of the issues presented can and should be handled by our elected officials, imo.
As it is now we are asked to both fill the feeding trough and work the fields as well to replenish the coffers to do so.
Why do we need to do the jobs we elected others to have the morals and ethics to perform in our name. Or did I just answer my own question. ;-)
What really happened is conservatives, never all that excited about Arnold, saw him making too many compromises with Democrats and appointing them all over the place, including to Judgeships. They don't trust him, and so when he says jump, they say, "nah, not this time." Some of us read the initiatives, and wanted them to pass, but Arnold didn't get enough of us on his side to get out an vote in droves.
Meanwhile, the unions spent tons of money on a negative campaign that was designed to get their people back on board, and it worked. Arnold lost a few scrapes in Sacramento, didn't use his veto pen like he should have, and no longer looked like a superhero as he did to the masses when he first ran for governator. So, he lost a lot of Dem support that he had before.
You can't win anything if the only ones on your side are the 20 percent of squishes in the middle. For Arnold to succeed, he has to govern as a republican, not like Jesse Ventura. He can then get that 40 percent of the state to vote for him, and convince enough of the moderates to go with him that he can get re-elected and get things done. Sadly, the lesson that he took from the defeat is that he needs to be more "collaborative". He should remember what they did to collaborators after WW2.
There is a red star and a bear on the California flag for a reason I guess! LOL
Dont forget us in places like San Diego and Orange County.
We are still here!
Perhaps they should go back to being a Republic instead of mob rule.
I couldn't disagree more with this article, in spite of my tag line.
The capability of the average worker is just fine, thankyouverymuch. Unfortunately, his attention span isn't, plus there is a good dose of denial in most of them.
Any body can understand that you can't spend more than your income.
Anybody can understand that if you spend more, taxes must increase to pay the bill. The State cannot print magic money. The only source of funds is taxpayers.
If You don't pay taxes, you are almost certain to vote for any tax increase whatsoever, hoping to get a piece of the new money. This is human nature, and will never go away.
This failure of our system of government will need to be fixed, sooner or later.
The Governor must get veto power over expenses, or at least line item veto, or all failure of state finances must be laid at the feet of the legislature, where it belongs.
"Guaranteed" school financing must be redefined as a percentage of State income, as held at a constant level, which may and can decrease if necessary. Education is no more a critical component of State expenditure as transportation, disaster planning, and a dozen other items that we can all agree on as necessities. Gay-lesbian parades or memorials are not among them.
Legislator requirements and qualifications must be redefined to include both minimum IQ and Economics 101.
(That last one I threw in just for grins, since I don't see it happenning any time soon.)
I live in L.A. County not 1.5 miles from the Orange County line, but the returns make it seem like a whole other world. Sad.
They just need to add a hammer and sickle to the state flag and it will be complete.
I agree and I think we would get a lot of support from the public employees on this one. They get tired of being threatened with vouchers every year instead of a July paycheck due to the negligence of these prima donnas.
At least the Democrats knows CA is unable to think for themselves and will make their decisions for them. What was Gov. Schwarzenegger thinking - letting the people vote for what they need. Well, that's a Republican for you!!
From the time a baby is conceived, and if let live, until same baby grows thru his education, marriage, medical health, retirement, then dies the democrats will care for you much better than you can yourself. Or something like that!!
A negative campaign is tolerable. A fraudulent one is not.
Every proposition recently defeated was misrepresented in total; some commercials implied the direct opposite of what the measure intended.
In a just world, those liars and propagandists would have been rounded up and thrown in jail for fraud.
Why did the voter buys into the lies? A combination of denial and wishful thinking.
If the state is on the brink of bankrupcy as a result of allowing the leeches to run it (obviously the money is good if they can spend $100 million to prevent its change), they can pretent that not talking about it will make the huge problem go away.
Unfortunately Schwarzenegger is not only apparently unwilling to use his veto power but he is also proposing the big spending increases. California government's thirst to pursue deficit spending is not the sole responsibility of the legislature. The process is being pursued by the whole government class.
Under current circumstances the most likely folks to control spending are in the legislature but Schwarzenegger has, to date, refused to veto the large budget increases he has proposed. Schwarzenegger's unwillingness to empower the conservative members of his own party in the legislature through the extraordinary influence accorded the minority when overriding a gubernatorial veto is unfortunate for California.
That's what we've had in Texas since the end of Reconstruction. The legislature is only allowed to meet for 140 days each 2 years. The governor can call the legislature into special sessions of up to 30 days each. They don't have time to spend passing legislation that only appeals to wing nuts of either party. Local governments have much more lattitude to make their own policies, because the legislature isn't constantly micromanaging everything. Our legislators only make $7,000 per session, so they actually have to have a real job back in their home districts.
(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.")
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