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Saturday, November 12, 2005I spent the last few days in Pasadena in meetings for work, hence the absence. That meant, however, that I got to watch the referenda results coming in on television.After three years without television, what the last few days taught me is I could probably handle another three without any major difficulties. LA television is really something to watch. We did not hear, for example, about competing health care propositions. We heard about the "big pharmaceutical company proposition" and the "consumer health advocate proposition". The phrase "paycheck protection" was never uttered but the talking points about "shutting down the unions" was oft heard in paraphrase. If the rest of California media looks anything like the media down south, the wonder is that Arnold hasn't been dragged from the statehouse and drawn and quartered. That some of the props did as well as they did is to his credit. That two of his props came close while his opponents' went nowhere is also to his credit. But... The state of California doesn't get much credit here. All the surveys show a desire for change, a desire for the branches of government to work together, etc. But Californians don't seem to willing to do much other than complain. So the governor is hated and the legislature is hated and it's time for a change. The solution? Don't pass the props and don't boot the legislature. Complain that the guv isn't doing anything, then complain and back away if he does... Which is why the quality of the political debate will keep going down... the California electorate would rather complain than contemplate actual change and most of the politicians know this well enough not to waste their time. Those who don't, in the meantime, will get a quick education in studying the election results and the subsequent spins offered. Of particular interest, I would note, is the redistricting prop and the reactions is drew. Schwarzenegger would do well to leave the GOP and run as independent. He will likely lose, regardless, but he ought not waste his energy on a group of people who, given the chance to shake things up and usher in an era of more competitive politics, chose instead to protect the safe seats they'd negotiated, indifferent to the long term consequences for the party and vision they ostensibly honor. A few years back, there was much chatter about whether Schwarzenegger was a real Republican or just a wealthy opportunist. Subsequent events have shown that we may have it backwards, with the governor, McClintlock and a handful of others being the only real Republicans in a state where most of the GOP is more interested in respectability at the chi-chi country clubs and a safe spot in the Capitol than the ideas for which their party stands. 
posted by gbarto at 12:31 AM Sunday, November 06, 2005I'm sure I'm not the first neocon to fit Paris into the Western Civilization vs. the Islamists framework. But thanks to Cicero for his notes on the bit, actually a parody of how some have reacted to the threat of Islamism with suggestions for exploiting the mechanism.Since spotting the bit, however, Cicero has been watching for others to take up the neocon charge. Today, he finally got another neocon on the case, the good Mr. Steyn. Steyn's was a good article, by the way. Though Cicero does do a nice job of taking apart one aspect of the thing: Oh. Battles decide nothing. People, and peoples, decide how to respond to them. And that, NOT the battle, settles what comes next.That's Cicero's response to Steyn's claim that we're witnessing a second battle of Poitiers - when the Muslims were pushed back in 732 A.D. Unfortunately for France, Cicero is write. Unfortunately, because were this a clash of arms, the CRS might stand a chance. But if this is a battle of wills between disparate peoples, well, the native French have seemed somewhere between resigned to decline and apologetic about not disappearing faster. And one fears that the French spirit - at least as contained within its political class, will wither faster than the residents of a Parisian nursing home on a hot day in July. Sarkozy looks increasingly like the best that France has to offer if it wishes to stay, er, French. Which is why, as Steyn points out, the other pols are more interested in sidelining him than making sure the next round of cars aren't burning at Elysée itself. Still, clash of civilizations and all, I should step back from my pessimism a little bit. I do think France will pull it together, finishing on a worse footing but not wholly lost. First of all, the French people are smarter than their pols, but the pols are usually smart enough to notice when they've really lost the people. Second, the one group of people more devoid of ideas - of esprit - than the French political class is the Islamist movement. When the key to solving the problems of the world is to leave it in a blaze of glory in hot pursuit of your 72 virgins, well, this doesn't bring about a lot of earthly solutions. Just a lot of body parts to sweep up before the normal part of the day resumes. In France, though, they haven't mustered even that. The youth are burning cars and committing assorted other mayhem, but staying just shy of offenses for which the French police are allowed to shoot. In short, we are witnessing anew the clash of civilizations. And in a place where the West does not have a very strong hand. The good news is it does still have a stronger hand than Islamism. Just as Western civilization will bring forth a democratic Iraq, it will eventually even bring about a functional Europe with greater charms to offer than the twisted reading of Islam that psychopaths use to unleash their fury and "French youths" identify with in a tired effort to find a new form of dignity in getting back at the man. One sentence summary, then, for Marcus: In Paris we are watching the same clash of civilizations that we've seen in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Just so, it is another clash that the West will win, if only in spite of itself.
posted by gbarto at 11:45 PM What with the special elections coming up in California, I voted over the weekend. At the center of the special elections were several initiatives sought by our Governor since the legislature was sitting on its hands. Schwarzenegger's initiatives were: - Changed teacher tenure and dismissal rules - Restrictions on the use of union dues for political purposes - Balanced budget measure - Change in redistricting procedures There were also independent initiatives for parental notification for minors seeking abortions, a couple health plans and a bright proposal for regulating electricity in California. Schwarzenegger gave support to the notification plan and one of the health proposals. He firmly opposed the other health plan and the electricity proposal. Without getting to specific, let's stipulate that I pretty much voted with the Governor. As far as his Top Props - his own initiatives - were concerned, I voted a straight slate. How come? A few years back, Californians were in an angry mood. They tossed the governor in a special election and elected Schwarzenegger Governor. But they didn't follow through. Instead of going after the legislature in Sacramento, which was just as guilty as Governor Davis of putting us on the wrong course, they sat on their hands when Schwarzenegger pushed for real change. And the Democrats, praying that the bloodbath was over, got back to business as usual as quickly as possible. I'm not fond of initiatives. I believe that it's better to have a representative democracy where people dedicated to full time public service use the authority granted them by the people to organize and implement an approximate but functional version of the government the people have mandated by their selection of candidates. If you want a certain type of government, you elect certain types of leaders and they work out details that you, with a life outside politics, might not have considered. Unfortunately, in California we don't have representative democracy. We have government of, by and for the urban centers in the Bay Area and the Los Angeles region. While the people where able to choose a new governor in spite of these areas' preferences, they weren't able to undo the damage done by a political system that has gerrymandered itself into a permanent and unaccountable Democratic legislature, indifferent to the people except when the will of the people isn't at odds with that party's special interest supporters. Voting isn't just an act of government selection. It's also the sending of a message. Early on, I decided that whatever Schwarzenegger got on the ballot I was supporting, even if I had to hold my nose to do it. The hope: that if enough others join me, we can force the legislature to either learn to work with the Governor or become an appendage in a referenda based government. One hopes, of course, to avoid a referenda based government. One hopes dearly for the passage of the redistricting plan so that maybe the legislature won't be so intractable. A side note: Last weekend, I got a note warning of the perils of the redistricting plan and suggesting that a lot of leading Republicans were opposed. Those are, I'm guessing, the Republicans who have agreed to play lapdog to the Dems if their districts are left unscathed. Plus some Washington flunkies. Note to those citing leading Republicans: When the Coburn amendments can't break 20 votes in the U.S. Senate, invoking the Republican party to rally people against a proposition is like citing Judas as a leading disciple to rally people against a new conception of Christian doctrine: those people don't speak for what we're all about here anymore. I've no way of knowing how the props will turn out, of course. Everyone I know here in the Bay Area is astonished that Schwarzenegger won the governorship to begin with, ninety percent because they don't know anyone who supported him, the other 10% because they thought they were the only ones. If Schwarzenegger has done well, a group that usually puts me on edge - those who rally against them manipulatin', union-lovin', child-corruptin' eddicators - will turn out in force to stick it to the teachers' unions (sticking it to the teachers' unions is a cause I enthusiastically endorse) and come through for Schwarzenegger. Let's hope so, or California, messed up as it is, will become something even worse - yet another place governed by the entrenched Democrat mindset, regardless of who actually holds office. Even the stalemate of the last few years would be vastly preferable.
posted by gbarto at 8:17 PM |
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