With the approach of Mother’s Day, I was thinking about my late
mother and how she might deal with the world of today. After all,
she would have been 109 and our world is much different from the
one that she knew.
With the approach of Mother’s Day, I was thinking about my late mother and how she might deal with the world of today. After all, she would have been 109 and our world is much different from the one that she knew. For one thing, politics in her time was local. You got your news from the local paper. You knew your representatives, even those who went to Washington.
Now, you get echos of soundbites from television and believe that this is really news. You have probably never met those who purport to represent you in Washington, or even in Sacramento. And these changes make a lot of difference in how we react to the media. I know it does for me and I think that it would be even more of a problem for her.
The upcoming June election, called a primary by the Secretary of State, is much more important than is implied by the term “primary election.” Many do not bother to vote in primary elections, viewing them as only the time that political parties choose their candidates.
My mother believed that it was perhaps more important to ensure that the general election gave us the choice between two good candidates than to skip the process and complain about having to make a choice between two mediocre politicos.
Our choice is also to elect a new County Supervisor, as Don Gage is forced out due to term limits.
I will be voting for Peter Arellano. I know him as he is my personal physician and I know that he will tell me what I need to hear, not just what I want to hear. That is a characteristic we find in too few people seeking office, but one that I prize very highly.
There are three propositions on the ballot that I believe to be important, 14, 15 and 16. Having propositions so commonly put to the people for direct vote was another thing that was not practiced when my mother was active. It is very different now in California, where politicians can refer something to the voters rather than going on record to make a tough decision. We also have the ability for very wealthy people, or very big corporations, to pay enough signature gatherers to get a proposition on the ballot. That is what happened with Proposition 16, where PG&E has put up the money to (1) gather the signatures and (2) to underwrite a major advertising campaign that applies some porcine lipstick to the deal fellow columnists Robert Mitchell and Lisa Pampuch have both sounded off on. I agree with them.
Proposition 14 is just as controversial, and goes directly at the heart of the democratic process. It would change the primary election system, in effect making the primary into the general election for many districts. Under Proposition 14, all candidates would run in the primary and only the top two would move on to the general election. In some state legislative districts, this would give voters a choice between two Democrats or two Republicans in the general election, as our districts are so gerrymandered to protect incumbents.
Since most voters, and in fact almost all of the media, is not paying a lot of attention during the primary election cycle, the selection will be done by the hard line party activists. It also means that independents and candidates from other parties (Libertarians, Greens, etc.) would not be putting forward their ideas during a time when voters are paying the most attention and it is their ideas that we need.
I will be voting No on Proposition 14 and hope that the rest of you do the same, it is a triumph of money at the ballot box.
As Proposition 16 demonstrates how money rules the elections, Proposition 15 is an attempt to level the playing field among candidates. It provides for a trial of public funding of elections, beginning with that for Secretary of State. Candidates will still have to gather signatures to prove that they have a reasonable level of support, but once that is accomplished, they can receive funds to cover basic expenses. I will be voting in favor of Proposition 15. Californians should give it a chance.
