Looking at the results and what remains uncounted, I think Prop 30 may actually pass. http://graphics.latimes.com/2012-election-results-california/ That'd be good.
Prop 30 passes and we may very well have a 2/3 Dem supermajority in both the Assembly and State Senate. This state may become almost barely governable. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/07/4967740/california-democrats-on-brink.html
California went full liberal this election. Republicans were literally kicked to the curb by the elctorate. As America is waking up to the uber stupidity of the National GOP, California voters have been wise to these fools for 20 years. But these idiots always had an ace in the hole - they could logjam the budget process and create a more or less permanent crisis between the large majority of voters who want more governmental intervention and those who don't. California has been a state with liberal spending policies and a conservative tax system. It don't work. Now that California has a competent governor (Pete Wilson gifted the dems with the Latino vote, Gray Man Davis and Ah-nold were the three stooges), he bet the budget house on Prop 30. And it passed. All the Republibumpkins can do is bitch and moan. But finally, they can only do so from the sidelines. Its all on the dems now. No more blaming the Republicans.
It's the People's Republic of California! Comrade, Revolt, I believe you will enjoy this propaganda from the People's Prospect! It is amazing! That article really covers it. Here in the home state of Nixon and Reagan, the Republican Party has been destroyed. And here in the birthplace of the tax revolt, we just voted to raise taxes. This place is screwed up. And its gonna take a long time to fix it. But for once I feel like the state government might actually have the capacity to try. We might need a California politics thread.
You don't need to worry about any more votes for raising taxes. The supermajority gives the state government power to raise taxes at will. Good luck. This falls into the "Be careful what you ask for, you might get it" category.
Oh, I know. I've had my eye on the supermajority potential for a couple years now. I'm not worried about that. I'm only worried about the Dems blowing their chance to do some real good.
I remain cautiously optimistic -- but I'm a Californian, so optimism is somewhat part of my DNA. The State needs a serious commitment to getting its collective shit together.
Well I'm a Californian born and raised, and optimism certainly isn't part of my DNA. I used to know some smart, good old-hands in California politics. They all left Sacramento in the last 10 years. They aren't atypical. If I have any real cause for concern, it's the brain drain we've seen in state government. I'd like to think that the governor can provide some steady guidance, but that's still to be seen.
Bump! Time for the Fall 2014 California propositions! Those if you in California, congratulations and keep on keepin' on. Those of you not in California, feel free to treat this like reading the newspaper for wherever you live, like ten years from now, because California leads the way. Here are the propositions for the November 4, 2014 election. We got some good ones this time. Links go to the California Secretary of State's web site which has more info on each proposition. Proposition 1: Water Bond. Funding for Water Quality, Supply, Treatment, and Storage Projects. A classic California maneuver: take a massive problem where both sides have intractable positions, and come up with a compromise that's super expensive and doesn't solve the problem, and put it on the ballot. This one is about water. California has a water problem -- we have too many people based on the amount of fresh water that the state has, and lots of those people live really far away from where the water actually is. Plus, we have a massive drought going on right now. Instead of doing a sensible thing like invading Oregon and taking their water (sorry Timbers fans), we're putting up $7 billion in bonds to do some half-ass measures to delay the actual solution for a decade or two. This one is supported by both the California Democratic Party and the California Republican Party -- keep in mind that the California Republicans are not as crazy as national Republicans -- California Republicans only lockstep oppose what the Democrats support about 90% of the time. It's opposed by, um, some fishing and farming associations, but there are other farming associations that support it, so it probably has some pork in there for some groups but not others. Anyways, we love taxes out here, so I predict this one will pass. Proposition 2: State Budget. Budget Stabilization Account. Legislative Constitutional Amendment. The title of this one is designed to put you to sleep, and the arguments for and against both have EVERY other WORD CaPiTaLiZeD. You can usually pick which side to support by which side brings the most terror-filled scare caps in the arguments for and against. The argument for has a lot of scare caps, while the argument against is OMG if this passes your kids will be sold into slavery - wait, what? Anyways, this one also has support from both the California Democratic Party and the California Republican Party -- it looks like Props 1 and 2 are a package deal or something. The argument against comes from some group called "Educate our State". So normally I would support something that has the support of both parties, but I don't want my kid to be sold into slavery, so I'm undecided on this one. Proposition 45::Healthcare Insurance. Rate Changes. Initiative Statute. No, I don't know why the numbering changed. There's something in the voter guide about how Proposition 43 was removed from the ballot when Proposition 1 was added, and Proposition 44 was renamed to Proposition 2, but if that stuff was important, there would be a test or something later, and I have not been informed of any such test. Anyways, this proposition is supposed to put more regulations on health care prices -- any increases in health care premiums needs to be approved by the insurance commissioner. It's supported by Democrats and opposed by Republicans, which is the natural order of things. The opponents -- big healthcare, like Kaiser and Wellpoint -- have raised tens of millions of dollars to fight this thing. Being a fan of big government, I'm inclined to support this one. Maybe it will help to move a public option closer to reality. Proposition 46: Drug and Alcohol Testing Of Doctors. Medical Negligence Lawsuits. Initiative Statute. This one wants to make doctors pee in a cup, and raises the limits on how much doctors can be sued for. I have a friend who is a doctor, and she sent an email out to everyone saying "please don't make me pee in a cup". The supporters are a bunch of law firms. The opponents are every single medical organization in the state -- big healthcare companies, the nurses union, all kinds of doctor associations, etc. I'm voting no, because mandatory drug testing doesn't do anything but cost lots of money. Proposition 47: Criminal Sentences. Misdemeanor Penalties. Initiative Statute. This one will turn some crimes from felonies into misdemeanors. The goal is to make room in prisons for real criminals by getting some of the less crimey offenders released. It seems like it's related to our stupid three strikes law - by reclassifying things like "stealing less than $900" as a misdemeanor instead of a felony, it will allow some number of thousands of bad guys to be released from prison. It's supported by a bunch of hippie liberals, and opposed by the upstanding police chiefs of the large swaths of rural California. I'm in favor of it, because three strikes is a stupid ass law and anything that weakens it is good. Proposition 48: Indian Gaming Compacts. Referendum. We had a similar one a decade or so ago. Basically, the people need to approve a deal to allow a couple of new Indian casinos to open up. The major opponents are the existing Indian casinos who don't want the extra competition. I'm in favor, because it will generate more tax revenue for the state. So there you have it -- commence your pointing and laughing.
But that revenue will come from more people gambling, and unless those people are Oregonians I'm against that.
I haven't even looked at this one tiny bit. I see no reason to stop with Oregon. Let's take Washington and British Columbia too. What shall we call our empire? Perhaps the Dominion of California? We get to deport all the Sounders fans, right?
I was thinking that once we redirect the Columbia River into Lake Tahoe, we'd be good for another decade or so. But yeah, eventually we'll need the rest of the Northwest. Deport, send to concentration camps, use for medical experiments, something along those lines.
I normally would say NO on everything, but given that both water levels and crime levels have dropped so much in our lovely state, I'd say we probably need to find creative ways to get more water and more crime. So, maybe we should consider voting YES on 1 and 47. Oh, and possibly YES on 48 too. Gambling levels have not gone down, as far as I know, but we can always use more gambling. Gambling has been shown by studies to both increase crime and reduce water use, so it's a win-win all around.
Ahhh, election time...the one time of the year when California threatens to overtake Florida for the silliest state in the country. Godspeed, ladies and gentlemen. Pass those initiatives. Override your elected representatives. Make your Constitution longer than than of India's. Create insane ways to fix electoral problems and then pass them on to the rest of us. But whatever you do, under no circumstances are you to try and shut down the state university system. I want a job there one day.
The state used to have a Cal State doctoral student loan program, merit-based. The killer thing is that if you get the loan, apart from a modest loan forgiveness component is that it's a fantastic feather in your cap to show that you've always had an interest in teacher colleges/state schools. So when they're looking at candidates from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Duke and you, it's really easy to make the argument that you've been aiming at this student body for, like, ever. (@Auriaprottu this is one of the demographic games I was talking about) EDIT: looks like it's closed for 2014-15, but bookmark it and check back for 2015-16. Gotta find a faculty mentor, I believe. So keep a look out for CSU faculty at your next conference. They tend to be super approachable. http://www.csus.edu/graddiv/Grants and Awards/ChancellorDoctoralIncentive.html
If it's a $10K disbursement, offer to pay your rent up front, cash... for a discount. Most landlords would give you a 10-20% discount.
The only prop I care about as a CA resident is prop 46 voting NO!!! Surprised the legalization of marijuana isn't on the ballot. Perhaps they are waiting for the bigger more liberal electorate in 2016 to put that on the ballot.