In the future, historians may likely mark the 2010 midterm elections as the end of the California era and the beginning of the Texas one. In one stunning stroke, amid a national conservative tide, California voters essentially ratified a political and regulatory regime that has left much of the state unemployed and many others looking for the exits.(via reader Doug J.)
California has drifted far away from the place that John Gunther described in 1946 as "the most spectacular and most diversified American state . . . so ripe, golden." Instead of a role model, California has become a cautionary tale of mismanagement of what by all rights should be the country’s most prosperous big state. Its poverty rate is at least two points above the national average; its unemployment rate nearly three points above the national average. On Friday Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was forced yet again to call an emergency session in order to deal with the state’s enormous budget problems.
This state of crisis is likely to become the norm for the Golden State. In contrast to other hard-hit states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada, which all opted for pro-business, fiscally responsible candidates, California voters decisively handed virtually total power to a motley coalition of Democratic-machine politicians, public employee unions, green activists and rent-seeking special interests.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
QOTD
Joel Kotkin in the November 15th Forbes:
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3 comments:
> virtually total power to a motley coalition of Democratic-machine politicians, public employee unions, green activists and rent-seeking special interests.
All the more reason The Big 0 needs to be an OTP, and the rest of Congress needs to be in the hands of Fiscal conservatives.
Cali needs to get slapped in the face with reality, and not bailed out, as the Party In Power (for another month, at least) would do, and do without hesitation.
I'm not leaving and I am FIGHTING!
Just so long as I have a job here, I intend to stay in California, work for candidates with the right attitude, and vote Republican. I'll also bug my neighbors and colleagues.
If I can't find work within the state, yes, I might be forced to relocate.
I do keep wondering who these liberal voters are? My wife is one and there's no hope for her. My neighbor, the police captain in a small nearby city is another Brown voter. He said he voted for Brown "because he seems honest."
Brown did have some useful seasoning as mayor of Oakland. There the problems were in-your-face and not ones he could abstract away. He did a decent job in that post.
Here's hoping he is a better governor this time around.
Whitehall: Your optimism is refreshing, but possibly misplaced. As for California liberals, who knows where they come from? But I'm certain they're here to stay. That's why I predict sovereign default is Cali's only option--which I think meets OBH's "slap in the face" suggestion.
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