Politics

Thoughts on The Republican Party In California

August 2008

melancholy reflections of a conservative voter in california

By Andrew Peterson
For CoverUps.com

What the hell has happened to Republicans and Conservatives in California?

There was a time, in the living memory of this CoverUps writer, when California was a Republican state to some extent. But for some time now it's been a pretty deep shade of blue. I have no doubt there is much learned discourse out there which explains it. I'm sure at least some of it will end up on my Amazon Wish List.

My own political conversion to conservatism was a gradual process that began in the early 90s, coming to fruition by the year 2000, when I finally began to feel comfortable identifying myself in conversations as a conservative.

I remember feeling politically out-of-place in California (where I've lived most of my adult life, except for a brief stint in Seattle in '80 and '81) all through the mid-to-late 80s.  And I feel that way now, too, 20 years later. It's almost as if my own personal political evolution is a mirror opposite of the state's.

When I think about Sacramento, the dominant emotions I have are those of distress and disgust. I picture a scheming cabal of power-addled statists, mostly liberal Democrats, who spend most of their time thinking up new ways to butt into my private life and take more of my money.

When I think of California Republicans, I picture a beleaguered and incompetent minority – but I do have respect for Tom McClintock, and the sporadic radio coverage I hear about the current budget battles leaves me impressed with the Republican refusal to cave in to Democrat (and media) demands for new taxes. So maybe I need to revise upward my opinion of the California Republican party.

Despite the conscious effort I made to temper my expectations from the outset, I confess to being terribly disappointed with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I guess that means I (like too many others) always had high expectations for him.

I was taken in by his speech at the Republican Convention in 2004, where he spoke with evident sincerity about his experiences with socialism in his native Austria as a boy. He sounded like a man with convictions. And he sounded convincing when he announced for Governor on Leno, and spoke, again with evident sincerity, of the woes suffered by California taxpayers.

In the euphoric aftermath of Arnold's win in the recall election, it was possible to believe that a sea-change had swept California politics. It seems clearer now that what we had was a freakish confluence of events; terrible energy policy at the state level that brought about rolling blackouts and high utility bills, combined with the spectacle of an unusually inept, corrupt, and personally unlikable incumbent governor.

It also seems in hindsight that Arnold's conservative ideals do not run as deep as his desire to be popular with the public. How else to explain his dramatic left-turn in governing philosophy after the beating he and his four ballot initiatives took in the special election in 2005.

So now the state is in worse financial shape than ever, and we are awash in political correctness, identity politics, and a barrage of undisguised efforts by liberals in Sacramento to run our lives and tax us at ever-higher rates to pay for it.

All of which brings you, my patient reader, to this distressing laundry list of political news items courtesy of a gentleman, Stephen Frank, whom I confess I have never heard of until now. He comes to me via an email from a lady whom I like and respect, and whose political views I share. On that basis, I post these links, with the promise that I will find out more about Stephen Frank in the very near future, so that my next attempt at California political analysis will be better than this one has been.

My apologies and thanks ...

• Prop. 2 to Increase Cost of Breakfast and Cakes
• Day 40 in Sacramento Without a Budget--Or Urgency
• Borden: Voters At Fault for Mess in Sacramento
• Nations Most Expensive and Dangerous School to Open in LAUSD
• Walters: Do ballot initiatives help or hurt?
• Millions in Waste Found in City of Sacramento Movie Deal
• Saunders: In Defense of Newspapers High
• Speed Rail EIR Challenge
• Blacks Leaving San Francisco as Fast as Possible?
• Gavin Newsom Admits "Failure" of Policy Promoting Illegal Aliens
• Governor Will Sue State Controller Next Week to Force Wage Cuts
• Senator Cog dill: California Financials are in Terrible Shape Budget
• Gimmicks Used to Fool the Public Into Believing the Budget is Balanced
• Unelected Agency Demands Court Over Rule Board of Supervisors
• Sacramento Legislators Have Wrong Priorities
• LA Times Exposes Massive SEIU Corruption
• Sacramento Bee Editorial Slyly Asks for Higher Deficits and Higher Taxes
• Democrats Finally Find a Tax They Can Oppose?
• Who Says Illegal Aliens Here for "Better Life"?
   Illegal Aliens Caught Stealing $21,000 of Shampoo
• McGovern: We need secret ballots for union members