Free Republic

Proposition 90, the “Save Our Homes” initiative, leads in the polls, because reining in abuses of government eminent domain and regulatory powers sounds good to the potential victims—every property owner in the state. So attacks, largely from those wielding such powers and their beneficiaries, are intensifying. Opponents assert Proposition 90 will decimate California’s ability to “preserve and protect” wildlife, open space, the coast, farmland, etc. Then they bring in their lynchpin “proof” of its disastrous consequences—Oregon’s 2004 Proposition 37, the first such property protection initiative to pass. They point to its “draconian” effects, and say that even worse consequences face...

The recent gasoline price spice and resulting record oil company profits generated an uncountable number of accusations of greed. The resentment stirred up has spawned Proposition 87, backed by a multimillion dollar promotional campaign, even as gas prices fall. Proposition 87 is being spun as a means to reduce oil consumption and stimulate the economy by creating alternative energy innovation. However, that is what it hopes to accomplish. Backers offer none of the necessary details to evaluate it or reasons to presume success. But it will inefficiently transfer resources from where consumers’ choices direct to where government bureaucrats dictate, and...

As the California election nears, candidates ramp up accusations that opponents have huge hypocrisy gaps between what they say and what they do. But, until recently, the candidate who clearly wins any hypocrisy comparison has been largely overlooked That is State Senator Tom McClintock, running for Lieutenant Governor against Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi. In a long public life, he has remained consistent to the limited defensible role for government in our society, and hasn’t sold out that vision to “buy” votes from others to get some goodies he wants from Sacramento. He may be the only one there with the...