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Not Good Enough
Andrew Bales
8.23.2003
In all likelihood the citizens of California will vote to recall Gray Davis, architect of the fiscal disaster that now plagues California. Of course Davis sees things much differently alleging, as has become the liberal mantra of the hour, that this is a mere ploy by Republicans to thwart the will of the people. If it were not so terribly sad, it would be somewhat comical to listen to him talk about the will of the people. It is his absolute refusal to listen to the people, which has provoked the recall which one can only hope he someday understands.

That said, it appears that California will have some choices to make, and soon. I am not sure how many people were really paying attention to this recall until an Austrian actor visited Jay Leno. Now we have the porn stars and the porn peddlers, the former child star and the current star child. Leadership is needed, business acumen sought and direction prayed for.

For many Republicans the choice seems easy enough. “Anything is better than Davis, Schwarzenegger has a good chance, vote for him.” First of all, it is unwise to suggest that “anything is better than Davis” because to do so means that one would literally elect anyone to replace him. For anyone who cannot see the danger in such a proposition, try the following: “Anyone is better than Ted Bundy as a date for my daughter”, only to have “anyone” wind up being Charles Manson. It is true that some people are far more qualified than Davis, but not everyone, and to be sure, not even most. Without digging too deep, does anyone really think that Gary Coleman should be “anyone”? Second, I agree that Schwarzenegger has a good chance of winning, though I am not sure anyone can really tell me how this came to be the case.

Republicans really need to consider the ramifications of being awe-struck by a man who has never held a position in the P.T.A., let alone one that requires running a state while ignoring, because he is probably a ‘long shot’, a man like Tom McClintock. McClintock does not have the name recognition in Hollywood, or the money that comes with such, but last I checked, Sacramento was not suffering from a lack of performing arts, but instead, a government that is spending far more money than it takes in. Unreal to me is that in the current state of affairs; qualifications seem to be finding their way to the back burner, while popularity has taken center stage, literally. Californians have a choice.

The choice they are faced with is not the tired cliché about “the lesser of two evils” but rather a choice that will say far more about the voter than it will about the eventual winner. The easy way is safe. It requires little more than a lemming mentality and a punch card, and yet it is so fraught with wrongheaded thinking that it undermines completely the idea of voting our true values. Wanting so badly to see a “republican” in the Governors mansion is a natural feeling after living in the land of Gray Davis, but is “a” republican really good enough?

I have listened to people nationwide talk about Mr. Schwarzenegger as if the natural progression of Hollywood acting is running a state. Meanwhile, Tom McClintock sits, poised, ready not only to lead, but ready to act.

There is a conservative Republican, elected time and time again by the people of California who is ready to go to work. He is not surrounded by people he has to threaten with push-ups for having the audacity to suggest that Proposition 13 might need a bit of tinkering. He is not surrounded by egomaniacs that want more than anything to be “in power”. He is not saying what he thinks everyone wants to hear but rather what people need to hear. He is not in this until the skies darken and he throws his support elsewhere. He is in this until the end, and he believes in California. He has a plan, not a panel. He will accomplish in his first day as Governor what others would be fortunate to accomplish in a year. He is ready, California. Not with rhetoric and vague platitudes but with a plan for the future, built on his experiences of the past.

Some say that Tom McClintock can’t win. They offer up a thousand excuses and ten thousand reasons why he is a bad bet. Their right to do so is not in question. What is in question is the condition of their conservatism. Taking the easy way out may see California be rid of Gray Davis, but looking at the condition of the state and picking anyone but the person best qualified is simply not good enough.

-Andrew Bales

(Andrew Bales resides in the state of Washington and is an, as of yet, undiscovered talent. His political prose is right on and the YRFKC is proud to offer his insight to our membership and supporters.)

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