Is it too early to look to the 2018 California election? Nahhhhh!
One thing I’ve urged Republicans for decades now is to go on the offensive. And the best way to do that is sponsor several initiatives every election cycle that outrage Democrats. Doing so, on top of the fun factor, forces them to spend millions against the good initiatives, taking money away from pushing bad initiatives and Democratic candidates.
After the election earlier this month, I sat and drank beers with my pal Jim Juroe, an attorney in Orange County. Here are some initiatives we came up with. The first couple should be on every ballot, just on principle – whatever happened the previous election, win or lose. It now takes from $2 to $3 million to gather the signatures to put an initiative on the ballot. Not chump change, but also not impossible.
I’ll apply my own Title and Summary for each initiative, followed after the paragraph break with an explanation. Fortunately, Attorney General Kamala Harris, whose biased words tainted numerous initiatives, soon will be going to the U.S. Senate. Her successor, soon to be appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown, can’t possibly be worse. And see Proposition 73, below.
Proposition 68: The Democracy Restoration Act of 2018. Repeals Proposition 14, the Top Two Primary System, from 2010.
I wrote about this earlier on Fox & Hounds, in particular the Harris vs. Sanchez disaster, which gave voters little choice and froze out the Republican Party. Not democratic.
Proposition 69: The Poor and Middle Class Income Restoration Act of 2018. Cuts the state sales tax on such things as baby clothes and children’s books by half a cent.
The point is to incrementally cut taxes with something that would be easiest to pass. Tax obsessives can’t say this is “Trumped up trickle down,” that would “only help the rich,” because the sales tax is regressive, hitting the poor and middle class hardest. Cutting the tax would help them by far the most.
Proposition 70: The College Tuition Reduction Act of 2018. Mandates the number of Cal State, University of California and community college administrators be cut in half over the next year. Three quarters of the savings would go to tuition reduction, the other quarter to professor salaries.
Currently, administrators outnumber faculty at these schools, doubling the numbers of these busybodies from two decades ago. Prop. 70 would be a great way to get the kids on your side, Republicans! Professors would love it, too.
Proposition 71: The Democracy for the Legislature Act of 2018. Restores the Legislature to part-time status, meeting for three months every other year.
No question the state has gone downhill since the Legislature was loosed in the late 1960s to commit mischief year-round. Restoring it to part-time status would force legislators to keep regular jobs, working among the rest of us during the 7/8ths of their lives spent away from government.
Proposition 72: The Traffic Jam Reduction Act of 2018. Eliminates socialist carpool lanes. Instructs California legislators in Washington, D.C. to prevent the possible loss of federal highway funds.
Carpool lanes, or diamond lanes, were a knee-jerk reaction to the 1970s gas “shortage,” which really was caused by Nixon’s price controls. It was supposed to “take cars off the roads.” It’s social engineering. The feds say it’s federal money, so states have to obey, or lose the funds. But California has two powerful U.S. senators and 53 representatives to make sure that doesn’t happen. And President Trump is eager to end stupid government programs. Drivers would love it.
Proposition 73: The Democracy Initiative Restoration Act of 2018. Moves writing the Title and Summary from the attorney general’s office to the Fair Political Practices Commission.
Outgoing (yes!), biased, left-wing Attorney General Kamala Harris always has written Titles and Summaries so heavily biased they have stifled democracy. The worst was her distortion of pension reform proposals. The FPPC currently is a trusted commission that keeps elections honest. It would be the right body to take over this duty.
Proposition 74: The 13 California Democracies Initiative of 2018. To advance democracy, splits the state into 13 new states.
It’s similar to investor Tim Draper’s Six Californias initiative, which did not make it onto the ballot, but with more than double the fun! It would give our people better, more personal government. The state’s 39 million people just can’t be represented under the current distant, top-heavy structure, which was designed more than 150 years ago when “social media” meant riding a donkey 100 miles to chew the fat.
Why should Orange County and San Francisco have to suffer together in the same state? Free them to be what they want to be!
Proposition 75: The Political Office Democracy Act of 2018. Term limits of 10 years for all political offices – combined.
Currently, the state allows legislators to serve 12 years total in either, or both, houses of the Legislature. Local and state governments sometimes have term limits. But politicians commonly hop from job to job: ed board to city council to county board to the Assembly to the state Senate to Congress.
Prop. 73 would limit to 12 years the time served in all offices, combined, from dog catcher to governor.
John Seiler has written editorials and columns on California for 29 years. His email: [email protected]