[Prime Choice]

Unfortunately, one cannot be a fiscal Conservative and a social Liberal at the same time. Those are mutually-exclusive goals; especially in California. If one is to to be Conservative in this state, it's really an all-or-nothing deal. And with the Liberals dominating every aspect thanks entirely to Conservative cowardice, things are only going to get worse.

[newzjunkey]

You're much too cynical tonight.

[dsmtoday]

Unfortunately, one cannot be a fiscal Conservative and a social Liberal at the same time. Those are mutually-exclusive goals; especially in California.

I'm a libertarian (note the size of the "el") and I live in California. My exposure to normal middle-class people who vote Democrat (I'm talking outside of San Francisco) in this state is mostly that they are completely opposed to Conservative social goals. They all hate high taxes and mispending, but are more afraid of the "religious right" boogeyman. Prop 13 is still very popular out here, as you might expect with the high home prices.

The Rep Party in this state is completely incompetent. For example, instead of embracing Arnold, they still ran McClintock who siphoned off enough Republican votes to potentially scuttle the deal if there hadn't been enough traditional Democrats voting for Arnold. The RP in this state is hung up on principle. What good is principle when you are getting your clock cleaned 24/7 by the Dems? Go have a look at the Libertarian website. They are "The Party of Principle". They are also the party of irrelevance, now down to half their membership since W took office. Well, the RP in California finds themselves in the same tough spot. When you have the votes, you can have principle. Get the votes first, and do it on one thing even Democrats agree upon - the Dems have been in power too long and cannot be trusted with the purse strings.

[SoCalPol]

Unfortunately, one cannot be a fiscal Conservative and a social Liberal at the same time. Those are mutually-exclusive goals;

Interesting, I know several gays in my neighborhood
who vote republican, have Bush stickers on their cars,
support the war, and are fiscal conservatives.