Posted on 03/19/2006 12:01:23 PM PST by Amerigomag
There was a time when I anxiously anticipated the end of the candidate filing period to see what the match-ups would be for the upcoming election. I was a political junkie in the spirit of college basketball fans waiting to fill out their brackets for March Madness.
I no longer have that enthusiasm for elections in California. They mostly don't matter, especially at the legislative level where political manipulation by both major parties has robbed voters of anything approaching competitive elections.
Unless incumbents do something really stupid, they are guaranteed to be in office until term limits force them out or they decide to retire and use their connections to become highly paid lobbyists.
Either way, tough public policy questions are avoided because our representatives see themselves as unaccountable to the voters. They listen to the special interests, but they don't listen to voters.
Voters don't seem to care that their political voices don't count for much. Sure, some of them seem angry when you hear them on talk radio or read what they have to say in letters to newspapers.
But they don't represent the masses, who would rather watch "American Idol" or "CSI" than figure out why their elected representatives aren't dealing with clogged freeways, the health-care crisis or public schools that don't meet the educational needs of their children.
No wonder politicians don't listen to voters. They aren't saying anything.
So what can be done to change this awful political dynamic?
For starters, the public should demand that the Legislature pass and the governor sign a redistricting reform measure.
You can register to vote, find out about the issues and then cast your ballots for the people you think can get things done.
It's not too late to change.
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
They must be reasonably certain that redistricting with remove the 2 seats in the Senate and 6 seats in the Assembly that are responsible for the government that we deserve?
Or is it just their fond hope?
Your FresnoBee is going Loonizoid again.
"In fact, some of them teamed up with the public employee unions to block redistricting reform in the November special election. That was a big win for the special interests, who protected their taxpayer-financed goodies by defeating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reform effort.
"Sure, the governor put up a clumsy campaign, but he was right on the need for reform.
He doesn't sound like a status-quo lib to me. You could reason with this man.
How about this for CA, we take their statehood from them and make them back into a territory, THEN Washington DC can decided how to govern them.
If the democrats are losing elections then there is something clearly wrong with the system. < /sarcasm>
"For starters, the public should demand that the Legislature pass and the governor sign a redistricting reform measure."
duh - where you been Jim Boren ?
We DO live in an age whre American Idol and the rest of the idiot shows on TV are more important than what is going on around our country and the world. Then one day people will wake up and say "duh...what happened."?
"Our civics teachers gave us the formula when we were in high school."
And where is that formula now? Not in Mr. Bennish's class.
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