|
Humor
the Governator, vote in special election
Our
view
Things
are cooking up in Sacramento—Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a
special election fresh out of the can.
The problem is the upcoming ballot vote can be interpreted as one of two things.
Either Californians are voting in direct democracy towards some issues of concern
or our leaders don’t play well with others.
The fact that Californians can directly vote for measures without our representatives
is a strong sign of our individual democratic powers. We the people, on occasion
at least, can decide what is going to happen.
These sentiments reflect the positive optimism of Schwarzenegger’s initial
year in office, where his cigar-handout bargaining prowess accomplished the
seemingly impossible in the Golden State: the coming together of both Democrats
and Republicans.
If the Legislature and Governator were able to come to terms despite differences,
this election wouldn’t be needed and Californians wouldn’t have
to be bombarded by propaganda-type campaign messages from all sides during
the summer.
So what is on this new ballot anyway? The first measure, if passed, will cap
state spending and give the governor more spending powers. The only problem
here is that most budget-savvy voters might ponder how a new measure relates
to the other money measures.
Clearly California has spending evils, which is part of why it got itself buried
in economic crisis in the first place, but another spending cap? Don’t
we already have those? How does this one relate to the others?
Perhaps only the handful of people who have studied the jigsaw puzzle-of-a-budget
in California can truly understand the implications of yet another spending
idea. In the meantime, most of us will only know what the campaign messages
tell us.
The other ballot initiatives are simpler, fortunately. The second measure would
take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts from lawmakers
and hand that responsibility to retired judges.
This is a good idea, because a few more competitive districts instead of safe-bet
Republican or Democrat districts are likely to elect more moderates into office – moderates
who could help the partisan Sacramento gridlock in the future.
The third initiative is to increase teacher tenure from two years to five.
To many citizens this doesn’t sound like a terribly drastic idea, but
the California Teachers Association (CTA) opposes the entire special election
and more importantly, Schwarzenegger himself.
Meanwhile, the CTA has charged each of its members $60 dollars, money that
will fund the campaign against the governor’s image and continue the
message that he broke his promise to schools. Such methods have certainly contributed
to Schwarzenegger’s lower public approval ratings released this week.
This summer it will be hard to care about politics.
After all, who cares about redistricting reform when the waves are calling
your name? Spending caps and executive money power? We’re just trying
to control our credit cards. Teacher’s union and tenure? School is out—for
most of us—and teachers and tests are faraway concerns.
However, these issues are important and will not go away any time soon. If
you think stressing over a test is bad, try stressing over billions of dollars
worth of debt. Much like studying, voting can prevent much unneeded stress. |
