Posted on 05/19/2012 7:04:04 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
SACRAMENTO — For years, running for office as a Republican in California boiled down to one core pledge, bound by a candidate's signature and enforced with a vengeance: no new taxes.
Not anymore. The state's new political landscape, scrambled by freshly drawn voting districts and new election rules, has given rise to a handful of GOP hopefuls proudly bucking the anti-tax orthodoxy. Their candidacies have the potential to end years of partisan gridlock here.
The creation of more centrist districts and the end of the party primary system have given candidates — and special interests — an incentive to move toward the political middle. In several contests, the business groups that typically back the GOP have turned away from rock-ribbed conservatives, throwing their support to pledge-free Republicans.
While some business groups are trying to tug Democrats to the center by backing moderates in that party, Democrats have no equivalent of the Republicans' national pledge.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! That’s the answer to California’s problems. Higher taxes, from Centrist Republicans!
Reach across the aisle, guys! Share the loot!
Ya... what you said...
Without getting back into the bi-modal saddle hypothesis, I think it's sufficient to ask just what these 'new' Repubicans think they are doing ~ are they going to attract an existing Democrat party coalition partner to the Republican standard?
Or do they believe there's an untapped well of politically astute people there who will show up to vote for the first time in their lives?
You did know that one of the things you have to believe about "the middle" or "the independents" is that they ordinarily don't vote ~ and neither do they participate in politics or the creation of broad patterns of public opinion.
I find it dreadful that we still have writers who imagine there are actually Republican politicians who seriously go after politically disinterested people to fill in the blank spots ~
This is one of the reasons Republicans have a better chance at winning when they stand up for Republican principles ~ they will at least get their base to show up to vote, and they might even attract chunks of voters who belong to other factions ordinarily more closely allied with the Democrats.
Think about all those guys with the roach coaches in CA ~ does anyone believe they aren't concerned with high taxes and nasty roads that never get fixed?
(I'll gladly vote for any "centrist" who is willing to dump bullet trains, cut state salaries & pensions, and fill a few pot holes.)
“We need more problem-solvers and less people with single-issue focus,” said Richard Temple, a political consultant who runs Spirit of Democracy California, a business-supported political action committee. “It’s about getting people to come to where you want them to be, not standing in the corner screaming louder.”
The day has just begun for me but I wouldn’t wager that I won’t read a more idiotic statement than this today. The problems, which plague California politics are manifold but they have been magnified by the lack of outreach and educational efforts by the California GOP. For many years they have been content to be the epitome of “Country Club Republicans,” (content soley to retain their share of the pie). No conservatism, no fight in them and now it’s the time of reckoning. Sh!t, Darryl Steinberg ought to just get out on the floor of the California Senate and declare this the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of California! Who’s gonna oppose it?
For years, running for office as a Republican in California boiled down to one core pledge, bound by a candidate's signature and enforced with a vengeance: no new taxes. Not anymore... a handful of GOP hopefuls proudly bucking the anti-tax orthodoxy... have the potential to end years of partisan gridlock here.Considering that California has had out of control spending and tax increases, and a Demwit majority continually in both houses for a long while, WHAT GRIDLOCK? Partisan Media Shill ping.
In the Central Valley conservatives will still be elected and still be outnumbered in the state bodies. The truth is that the dims have run this car into the ditch and are now stripping off everythins useable leaving a hulking skeleton of what once was a great ride.
‘”We need more problem-solvers and less people with single-issue focus,” said Richard Temple, a political consultant who runs Spirit of Democracy California, a business-supported political action committee. ‘
Hmm...appeasement and dump the socons....RINOism at its finest.
If centrist means "go along to get along,' forgetaboudit!.
For balance, and real correction, we need a large number of "Atilla the Hun" legislators, who will examine the problem (spending beyond our means,) identify the most expeditious solution possible, and reverse 30 years of a "dont-give-a-damn-about-anything-other-than-gays-and-illegals-and-self-esteem-catering-BS.
I just hope that's still possible.
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