Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Oh what the hell.
The pinko-left wing commie bastards in California have rejected the Guvernator's four initiatives. They must be destroyed. We shall conquer them, burn down thier homes, slaughter the men, sell the women and children into slavery, and sow the land with salt.....
Maybe not. I actually like California. I have some family out there and at least one friend from that fair state. I have been to San Francisco twice: great town. But California really blew it.
Arnold's initiatives should have passed. And they were defeated by well organized special interests (Yes, Virginia unions are a special interest group.) Without realizing it, Californians have voted for the status quo of deficit spending and political corruption.
Most egregious was their rejection of the initiative to reform redistricting. Right now, every ten years the census happens. At which point, in every state in the Union, the legislatures redraw the districts. They are always drawn along partisan lines. In 2004, Delay redrew Texas along Republican lines, because a judge had redrawn them in 2002 to support Democrats. There are plenty of Republicans in Massachusetts, we have had Republican Governors since 1990. Yet there are no Massachusetts Representatives in Congress that are Republican. The Democratic state legislature would never allow it.
If California had shifted the redistricting to a panel of non-partisan retired judges, this system could have ended. And the rest of the country would have followed. We would have a more representitive government, the voters would have more incentive to vote, and the republic would have been strengthened.
When California failed, we all suffered.
Maybe not. I actually like California. I have some family out there and at least one friend from that fair state. I have been to San Francisco twice: great town. But California really blew it.
Arnold's initiatives should have passed. And they were defeated by well organized special interests (Yes, Virginia unions are a special interest group.) Without realizing it, Californians have voted for the status quo of deficit spending and political corruption.
Most egregious was their rejection of the initiative to reform redistricting. Right now, every ten years the census happens. At which point, in every state in the Union, the legislatures redraw the districts. They are always drawn along partisan lines. In 2004, Delay redrew Texas along Republican lines, because a judge had redrawn them in 2002 to support Democrats. There are plenty of Republicans in Massachusetts, we have had Republican Governors since 1990. Yet there are no Massachusetts Representatives in Congress that are Republican. The Democratic state legislature would never allow it.
If California had shifted the redistricting to a panel of non-partisan retired judges, this system could have ended. And the rest of the country would have followed. We would have a more representitive government, the voters would have more incentive to vote, and the republic would have been strengthened.
When California failed, we all suffered.
