Alright, so two months of sheer madness in California will finally be over tomorrow night. I have no idea how my fellow Californians on the blog (Warrior Tang and jrenken) intend to vote on the recall, but this is the way I see it, and have pretty much seen it since this whole mess began. My endorsements are the exact opposite of the California Patriot, but that's not a surprise, seeing as how the California Patriot likes Bush.
Anyway, here's how I stand:
Do you wish to recall Governor Joseph Graham "Grey" Davis?
No. Here's why. The problems Davis is getting blamed for is happening to most of the other states as well, and the California Energy Crisis was not Governor Davis' fault either. The fault for deregulation lies in the hands of former Governor Pete Wilson, who is working for Arnold (no, I'm not going to try to write that last name.) Anyway, my point is, if you're going to recall Davis for the sucky economy, you might as well recall most of the rest of the state governors and President Bush while you're at it. Seeing as how that's impossible, why recall Davis? We've asked him to do an impossible job, and he's done it as best as he can.
As for the state budget, if we didn't have so many asinine propositions demanding a portion of the budget or putting restrictive rules on how a budget can be passed, there'd be less of a budget problem. More on this when I discuss Proposition 53.
In the event the recall is successful, who would you like to take the Governor's office?
Cruz Bustamante. First of all, we have a succession for Governor, and we should stick with it. If Davis became incapacitated, Bustamante would take the seat, so why not for something like this? I like Arianna Huffington and Peter Camejo's ideas, but I feel strongly enough about the succession argument that I will most likely vote for Bustamante. Tom McClintock I admire for just sticking to his message, even if it is a message I don't agree with, and I might consider voting for him in a down-ballot race, like Insurance Commissioner or something.
I do not want Arnold in office. Unfortunately for me, that's what it looks like is going to happen. Great, so now we have a Gropevernor as opposed to a Governor. And anybody that thinks I'm just an object is definitely not going to get my vote. Besides, Arnold has done a good enough job of ducking the issues that I don't have a clue where he stands, and it's all muddled. The last time we voted for a republican like this, we got George W. Bush. And as I briefly mentioned before, the way Arnold treats girls is pretty scary to me and should be for you, especially if you have two X chromosomes. *shudder* I pray that we'll wake up on October 8th to find that Davis has dodged a bullet, because I really don't want a governor that thinks that it's okay to harass folks of the other sex. For example, this is pretty scary. Do you want a governor who is just a big bully?
Proposition 53: California Twenty-First Century Infrastructure Investment Fund
Should the state dedicate up to 3% of General Fund revenues annually to fund state and local (excluding school and community college) infrastructure projects? This measure would increase the amount of General Fund revenue committed to pay-as-you-go capital outlay projects for both state and local governments.
It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Except that, as I mentioned above, over the years we've done this with other propositions, which makes it difficult to write a budget that pleases everybody. And with the 2/3rds majority needed to pass a budget in this state...it makes for massive gridlock, and it's what led to this recall of Grey Davis in the first place. On the other hand, we might be able to kick Governor Grope out in much the same fashion...
Proposition 54: Classification by Race, Ethnicity, Colour, or National Origin
Should state and local governments be prohibited from classifying any person by race, ethnicity, colour, or national origin? Various exemptions apply. This measure restricts, effective January 1, 2005, state and local governments from "classifying" information on a person's race, ethnicity, colour, or national origin for the purposes of public education, public contracting, public employment, and other government operations.
No. If this were a perfect society in which nobody cared about colour of skin, then this would probably be appropriate. However, we don't live in Perfect. There are legitimate reasons for the state to keep this information, simply for seeing how the state is changing, to stopping 'driving while black' or 'driving while brown', and many other things.
On top of it, I think it might be bad not only for the black and Latino communities in California, but also for the whites. Things like this get put on the ballot simply because whites will vote for it. But very soon, the demographics of California will be such that the white people are a minority. And at that point, you're not going to be able to pass propositions like this.
As I said, I want a colourblind society as much as anybody else. But this isn't the way to approach it.
Anyway, that's how I plan to vote and why. Now to see if I'm playing "California Uber Alles" in bitterness tomorrow night.
Posted by katster at October 6, 2003 02:31 PM