Republicans Seek to Turn California Into a "Red" State

From the Associated Press:

Los Olivos, CA. (June 13)-In this picturesque region outside Santa Barbara, most of the local chatter centers on the nearby Michael Jackson trial and the continuing tourist boom wrought by the hit movie "Sideways." But neither the pinot noir nor the "King of Pop" were on the agenda this weekend at a conference of the Republican activists, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the focus.

On Monday, Schwarzenegger was expected to call for a special election in November to let California voters decide whether to clamp down on spending, change the way electoral districts are drawn and make it harder for teachers to win tenure.

So, the Governator can't seem to get his way with a defiant Democratic-controlled legislature, therefore, he must spend even more millions of dollars, that California doesn't have, on a special election so he can shove his own particular program down our throats? Excuse me, Governator, have you ever heard of the term compromise? It is where you give up something of value in your program which your political party desires, in exchange for the opposition party to give up something that they value. And in return, both parties get a little something in the end--it may not be everything that each political party wants. Compromise is good for the state since it provides the benefits and incurs costs for all interest groups. Unfortunately, in our current form of government, compromise is a lost art. Each political party tries to demonize and destroy the other political party. Each tries to shove its own agenda down the other's throat. In the Bush Administration, compromise is simply another name for a rubber stamp that Congress must use in promoting the White House legislation. In Sacramento, the Republicans, with the Terminator-turned-Governator leading the way, utilized a recall election to kick out a sitting Democrat Gray Davis from the governor's office, to install King Arnold. The Republicans couldn't wait until the next election--NO, have to get rid of that demon Davis now. And now since Governator Arnold can't get his pro-business agenda through the legislature, well, let's call another special election.

The problem is that as long as you keep up with this demonizing of the opposing party, and keep trying to shove down your own extremist views down the other's throat, it is going to come back to you. The other side will start to push back harder, until you watch the opposition shove their extremist views down your throat. It will happen. Just as it is starting to happen in Washington D.C., where the Democrats in Congress were ready to force a judicial filibuster against the hard-lined conservatives that President Bush wanted to put on the federal bench. If Schwarzenegger starts pushing this special election, it will certainly galvanize the pro-labor and union groups against Schwarzenegger and his pro-business allies. Even worst would be a perception of corruption in the governor's office, where the special election would try to force another redistricting plan for California--a redistricting plan that would obviously benefit the Republicans. Of course, if Schwarzenegger can get his way with this special election, then he'll get an enormous political victory and the Republican Party will have even greater power in Sacramento. This would infuriate the Democrats, who would then seek out to terminate Schwarzenegger future political career. Tit for tat. An eye for an eye. Both parties would seek to continue to destroy each other.

I'm not saying that the Democrats in Sacramento are any better. In fact, both sides are about as crass and corrupting as ever. What we've lost in both Washington and Sacramento is the art of compromise. Where moderate members of both political parties can come together to craft laws for the good of the country. Moderation has been co-opted by extremisms take-no-prisoners / destroy-the-enemy's agenda. The Republican's have the governorship. The Democrats have the legislature. This is the best of checks-and-balances. Both political parties have to work with one another to service the needs of the state. Both parties have to seriously compromise with one-another. Unfortunately, the party leadership in both parties are dominated by the extremists. And so now we've got the Republicans under the Governator trying to push his own extreme agenda through a state-wide special election. The question for Californians is, in light of the corruption and scandals coming out against the Republicans in Washington, are they willing to give more power to the Republicans in the state?