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Random commentary and senseless acts of blogging.
The first Republican president once said, "While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of four years." If Mr. Lincoln could see what's happened in these last three-and-a-half years, he might hedge a little on that statement. Blog critics Gryffindor House Slytherin House Ravenclaw House House Elves Beth Jacob Prisoners of Azkaban Muggles
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Monday, July 28, 2003
Via Matt Yglesias, I learn that yet another gubernatorial candidate has thrown her hat (or possibly her thong) into the ring. Hey, I'm sold. From her site, it's apparent that Georgy Russell is not merely a babe but that rarest of beings, a geek babe. She appears to have designed her own site, which is put together nicely, although not as nicely as the candidate. And she largely makes sense when she talks about issues, which is more than I can say for most of her opponents.
Georgy says in an open letter, "For the first time in a long time, this recall will give us a chance for four years of something new - leadership by the people. It's about time we regular people wise up to a system that's gradually making us irrelevant. " The problem is, this is nothing new. Californians have been trying to toss out the politicians and bring the government back to the people since I was a child and Georgy wasn't born. We elected an actor Governor. We passed Prop 13, which saddled the state with a deeply unfair and regressive tax system, where taxation of real property is based not on value but on sale date. We adopted a three strikes bill written by a photographer which hands out life sentences for petty theft. We passed term limits which result in legislators dependent on lobbyists because by the time they understand the ins and outs of governing the state they get booted out. Now we have a recall of a Governor elected only a few months ago, which has helped to give us the weakest debt rating of any state, one step above junk bonds. None of these turned out to be good ideas.
Back in the days of Pat Brown before all this started, California was widely seen as the best governed state in the best governed nation in the world. Maybe Georgy should adopt a truly revolutionary slogan and advocate power to the politicians. |
