California syndicated columnist Thomas Elias has witnessed
the “purpling” of California. Now the state is as “blue” as the Pacific Ocean,
or as blue as a corpse, depending on the decisions that our leaders make in
Sacramento. Whether the fate and future of the state and its people (dwindling
fast) will stick around is another matter altogether. The Sacramento Bee’s Dan
Walters described “The Fishhook” which the California Republican Party relied
on for decades in spite of the liberal hegemony of Los Angeles and San
Francisco. This fishhook started in the Central Valley, through the Inland
Empire, and continued into Orange and San Diego Counties. The hook has been
taken down, with the line and sinker.
African-American voters, aside from the infrequent visit of Mitt Romney to South
Los Angeles, have never met a Republican candidate for office. All seems lost,
and Elias is convinced that Republicans are entrenched in their ideology, that
they cannot shift to make sense to a liberalized, left-leaning electorate.
for him to jump on a fiery chariot and leave the political discussions to those
who know and believe that better things are coming. The second prophet Elisha
brought grace and hope to an evil world. The second prophet brings dead men to life (like
the GOP, despute Elias' cynicism); splits the Jordan with the same mantle (the dividing
of the Democratic Party over school reform and public sector unions); and sends the two she-bears to tear up the
bratty kids (the legislators who do not serve their state or the voters).
a Democrat in every statewide office. I do not know whether Elias wants to bark
with joy or meow with sorrow, but more Californians are grieving or leaving. What was the first proposal from this “empowered” legislature?
Attempt to triple the car tax. Everybody yelled. Oregon residents pay one-fifth of
our car tax, and the license lasts for two years. No wonder so many
Californians are leaving. Now Sacramento Democrats want to rescind Prop 13
provisions for businesses. As if the state of California does not need to give
more reasons to get rid of job creators and economic growth. Governor Jerry
Brown wants to reformulate the state tax dollars for education toward
struggling schools. Giving bad schools more money does not make them better schools,
but makes bureaucrats richer and less accountable.
stopping the tax hikes on everyone. That’s a Republican idea. Just because a
majority of voters supported Prop 30 in 2012 does not mean it was their first
or their best choice. If leaders in the state Capital were willing to put aside
their political careers and care about the future of the state, then they would
make the necessary cuts and spend less of our tax dollars. That’s another Republican
concept.
choose where they send their kids. Not once has a Democrat proposed freeing up
parents to choose where they enroll their students. Just last years, “Students First”
filed a lawsuit against the state of California, the state superintendent
of schools, the governor, and John Deasy, the superintendent of Los Angeles
Unified. Instead of going to court, let kids go to the school of their
choice. That is a Republican idea.
because the voters passed a revision of “Three Strikes”, a provision which was
meant to incarcerate only violent repeat offenders. Less crime and less
government is a Republican idea, not a Democratic one, since more often than
not Democrats expand government and by extension expand corruption (Rod
Blagojevich, anyone?)
How about decriminalizing controlled substances. Republican
Ron Paul advanced this argument in 2012, and he got a lot of praise. Junior
Senator Rand Paul has pressed a similar notion, defederalization, which would
empower the states as the primary enforcer of the drug laws, and permit the states to
rescinding them, as Colorado and Washington have already done. On his final
visit on “News Conference”, Republican Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas)
made his last-minute, small “L” libertarian pledge that our nation, our state
must rethink these draconian drug laws. They aid gang violence, they fund
terrorists and drug cartels, they abet public corruption, yet drug abuse and
death abide evermore with us. Portugal decriminalized, and the drug usage and
crime rate plummeted. Imagine the dramatic reduction in crime, incarceration,
and costly prison care-taking without these drug laws.
the Democratic Party will take all the blame for the next two years, since the
Republicans will not be able to block any bills, whether good or bad. They can offer
reasonable proposals, reach out to all voters, and then offer a vision of this
state which rewards profit, punishes incompetence, and leaves everyone alone,
including the dogs that quack.