Politics: California, To The Birds
I've got to say that I've not paid a huge amount of attention to the recall effort in California, and that's because I kind of consider California safer than maybe I should.
I think California, with its size and its media holdings, is a state where any reality can be manufactured effortlessly, because there are just so many people, and so much money, and so little attention paid from outside sources. So I've done a little reading, spurred initially by the idea of blogging something on Rep. Darrel "West Coast Evil" Issa's $650,000 donation to the recall effort against governor Gray Davis.
I think California deserves more attention, and I feel even more strongly after reading this little gem in the Washington Post today.
This place is not a state, it's a kingdom. It's a sprawling monster of a world where politics has totally different rules, and the percentages and ratios that keep democracy workable elsewhere are totally meaningless. California has become heaven for ballot initiatives, where, in California numbers, it's a piece of cake to gather the signatures you need and put an option in front of voters. I'm not speaking out against ballot initiatives altogether, but California's history is a little disconcerting. (Listen to Ina Jaffe's incisive report on Prop 13, which should be bearing a lot more responsibility for the state's financial woes.)
A FEW FRIGHTENING RIGHT-WING initiatives can whip up some support and then exploit the apparatus that has developed in the state, and suddenly, you've got 900,000 signatures. Just as suddenly, you're wielding enormous power, holding the entire goverment hostage with a pea-shooter. Remember, California has 34 million people and 15.3 million registered voters. But, again, and it takes only 900,000 to get an initiative on the ballot. Insert something for consideration during a low-importance election like, say, one this November, one year before a presidential contest but one year after a huge, bruising gubernatorial race. Two examples of this threaten civil rights and democracy in the Golden State this year.
First is the one I've reference several times and that you've probably heard the nutjobs talking about for a while: this insane campaign to recall Gray Davis. You've never seen anything like this: The far-right wing of California's Republican party tore itself apart, casting aside a proven winner with a centrist bent in favor of a total nutbar who never stood a chance. This same cadre of whackos have realized that they can beat democracy square in the head, tossing out the votes of more than 7 million Californios on the sayso of about 900,000. What's worse, this can be done with a majority in this fall's special election where turnout will probably only rise to a meager 20 percent of the registered voters. The numbers run so low (900,000 setting a vote where about 2.5 million pick the outcome for a state of nearly 35 million people) that it is closer to a coup than a vote. And that's the plan: Davis, although unpopular, couldn't be beat by a crummy candidate and campaigner like Bill Simon. What's the next best thing? Just boot him out, even though he's the democratically elected governor. Need a majority? Don't worry about it, we'll just get a couple million and call it even.
Another ballot initiative which could endanger civil rights and worse in the nation's most populous state is Ward Connerly's deceptive Race Information Ban. Connerly, who crusades against affirmative action, is now pushing what seems like some kind of privacy initiative, but would actually cripple state efforts to gather information on, say, public health, eco-justice, and institutional racism. Connerly's work, like the misguided challenges to affirmative action now being reviewed by the US Supreme Court, are based on the assumption that the world is now a race-blind place where nobody needs to pay attention to the lingering -- and new -- effects of racism. Connerly's initiative has a better chance of passing since it could be considered with the David recall and that election will have low-turnout, except among right-wingers, who will swarm the polls like ninjas.
SO WHERE ARE WE LEFT WITH CALIFORNIA? Ths nation's most populous state could compete with many other nations, but with it demonstrates the surprisingly porous nature of democracy when a few people learn to work the system. Granted, some states have been well-worked systems for a long time (I'm looking at you, Illinois, and I can see your stupid grin, Florida), but there is no reason that California should be allowed to slide into a morass of short-sighted electoral hostage taking by Karl Rove wannabes on the West Coast. Californios have been impressive, sadly, in their weak voter turnout these past few years. Registration and turnout both reached all-time lows by the 2002 election where Davis retained the Governor's mansion. There needs to be reform, for sure, but in the meantime, there needs to be more voices and more money and more voters making the message clear. I saw a bumper sticker from the big Liberal Get-Together here in DC last week. It was a wise warning, and not a little snarky: "They're evil because you don't vote."
I've got to say that I've not paid a huge amount of attention to the recall effort in California, and that's because I kind of consider California safer than maybe I should.
I think California, with its size and its media holdings, is a state where any reality can be manufactured effortlessly, because there are just so many people, and so much money, and so little attention paid from outside sources. So I've done a little reading, spurred initially by the idea of blogging something on Rep. Darrel "West Coast Evil" Issa's $650,000 donation to the recall effort against governor Gray Davis.
I think California deserves more attention, and I feel even more strongly after reading this little gem in the Washington Post today.
This place is not a state, it's a kingdom. It's a sprawling monster of a world where politics has totally different rules, and the percentages and ratios that keep democracy workable elsewhere are totally meaningless. California has become heaven for ballot initiatives, where, in California numbers, it's a piece of cake to gather the signatures you need and put an option in front of voters. I'm not speaking out against ballot initiatives altogether, but California's history is a little disconcerting. (Listen to Ina Jaffe's incisive report on Prop 13, which should be bearing a lot more responsibility for the state's financial woes.)
A FEW FRIGHTENING RIGHT-WING initiatives can whip up some support and then exploit the apparatus that has developed in the state, and suddenly, you've got 900,000 signatures. Just as suddenly, you're wielding enormous power, holding the entire goverment hostage with a pea-shooter. Remember, California has 34 million people and 15.3 million registered voters. But, again, and it takes only 900,000 to get an initiative on the ballot. Insert something for consideration during a low-importance election like, say, one this November, one year before a presidential contest but one year after a huge, bruising gubernatorial race. Two examples of this threaten civil rights and democracy in the Golden State this year.
First is the one I've reference several times and that you've probably heard the nutjobs talking about for a while: this insane campaign to recall Gray Davis. You've never seen anything like this: The far-right wing of California's Republican party tore itself apart, casting aside a proven winner with a centrist bent in favor of a total nutbar who never stood a chance. This same cadre of whackos have realized that they can beat democracy square in the head, tossing out the votes of more than 7 million Californios on the sayso of about 900,000. What's worse, this can be done with a majority in this fall's special election where turnout will probably only rise to a meager 20 percent of the registered voters. The numbers run so low (900,000 setting a vote where about 2.5 million pick the outcome for a state of nearly 35 million people) that it is closer to a coup than a vote. And that's the plan: Davis, although unpopular, couldn't be beat by a crummy candidate and campaigner like Bill Simon. What's the next best thing? Just boot him out, even though he's the democratically elected governor. Need a majority? Don't worry about it, we'll just get a couple million and call it even.
Another ballot initiative which could endanger civil rights and worse in the nation's most populous state is Ward Connerly's deceptive Race Information Ban. Connerly, who crusades against affirmative action, is now pushing what seems like some kind of privacy initiative, but would actually cripple state efforts to gather information on, say, public health, eco-justice, and institutional racism. Connerly's work, like the misguided challenges to affirmative action now being reviewed by the US Supreme Court, are based on the assumption that the world is now a race-blind place where nobody needs to pay attention to the lingering -- and new -- effects of racism. Connerly's initiative has a better chance of passing since it could be considered with the David recall and that election will have low-turnout, except among right-wingers, who will swarm the polls like ninjas.
SO WHERE ARE WE LEFT WITH CALIFORNIA? Ths nation's most populous state could compete with many other nations, but with it demonstrates the surprisingly porous nature of democracy when a few people learn to work the system. Granted, some states have been well-worked systems for a long time (I'm looking at you, Illinois, and I can see your stupid grin, Florida), but there is no reason that California should be allowed to slide into a morass of short-sighted electoral hostage taking by Karl Rove wannabes on the West Coast. Californios have been impressive, sadly, in their weak voter turnout these past few years. Registration and turnout both reached all-time lows by the 2002 election where Davis retained the Governor's mansion. There needs to be reform, for sure, but in the meantime, there needs to be more voices and more money and more voters making the message clear. I saw a bumper sticker from the big Liberal Get-Together here in DC last week. It was a wise warning, and not a little snarky: "They're evil because you don't vote."
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