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Sunday, November 06, 2005What with the special elections coming up in California, I voted over the weekend.At the center of the special elections were several initiatives sought by our Governor since the legislature was sitting on its hands. Schwarzenegger's initiatives were: - Changed teacher tenure and dismissal rules - Restrictions on the use of union dues for political purposes - Balanced budget measure - Change in redistricting procedures There were also independent initiatives for parental notification for minors seeking abortions, a couple health plans and a bright proposal for regulating electricity in California. Schwarzenegger gave support to the notification plan and one of the health proposals. He firmly opposed the other health plan and the electricity proposal. Without getting to specific, let's stipulate that I pretty much voted with the Governor. As far as his Top Props - his own initiatives - were concerned, I voted a straight slate. How come? A few years back, Californians were in an angry mood. They tossed the governor in a special election and elected Schwarzenegger Governor. But they didn't follow through. Instead of going after the legislature in Sacramento, which was just as guilty as Governor Davis of putting us on the wrong course, they sat on their hands when Schwarzenegger pushed for real change. And the Democrats, praying that the bloodbath was over, got back to business as usual as quickly as possible. I'm not fond of initiatives. I believe that it's better to have a representative democracy where people dedicated to full time public service use the authority granted them by the people to organize and implement an approximate but functional version of the government the people have mandated by their selection of candidates. If you want a certain type of government, you elect certain types of leaders and they work out details that you, with a life outside politics, might not have considered. Unfortunately, in California we don't have representative democracy. We have government of, by and for the urban centers in the Bay Area and the Los Angeles region. While the people where able to choose a new governor in spite of these areas' preferences, they weren't able to undo the damage done by a political system that has gerrymandered itself into a permanent and unaccountable Democratic legislature, indifferent to the people except when the will of the people isn't at odds with that party's special interest supporters. Voting isn't just an act of government selection. It's also the sending of a message. Early on, I decided that whatever Schwarzenegger got on the ballot I was supporting, even if I had to hold my nose to do it. The hope: that if enough others join me, we can force the legislature to either learn to work with the Governor or become an appendage in a referenda based government. One hopes, of course, to avoid a referenda based government. One hopes dearly for the passage of the redistricting plan so that maybe the legislature won't be so intractable. A side note: Last weekend, I got a note warning of the perils of the redistricting plan and suggesting that a lot of leading Republicans were opposed. Those are, I'm guessing, the Republicans who have agreed to play lapdog to the Dems if their districts are left unscathed. Plus some Washington flunkies. Note to those citing leading Republicans: When the Coburn amendments can't break 20 votes in the U.S. Senate, invoking the Republican party to rally people against a proposition is like citing Judas as a leading disciple to rally people against a new conception of Christian doctrine: those people don't speak for what we're all about here anymore. I've no way of knowing how the props will turn out, of course. Everyone I know here in the Bay Area is astonished that Schwarzenegger won the governorship to begin with, ninety percent because they don't know anyone who supported him, the other 10% because they thought they were the only ones. If Schwarzenegger has done well, a group that usually puts me on edge - those who rally against them manipulatin', union-lovin', child-corruptin' eddicators - will turn out in force to stick it to the teachers' unions (sticking it to the teachers' unions is a cause I enthusiastically endorse) and come through for Schwarzenegger. Let's hope so, or California, messed up as it is, will become something even worse - yet another place governed by the entrenched Democrat mindset, regardless of who actually holds office. Even the stalemate of the last few years would be vastly preferable. 
posted by gbarto at 8:17 PM |
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