Wednesday, September 17, 2003
BOO HOO HOO, PT. 2
"To have this canceled is like preparing for a huge party and having somebody say they don't want to have it."
Kristen L. Heffron - chief deputy, LA County registrar-recorder
"When voters get too confused, they are going to say forget it and walk away."
Jill LaVine - Sacramento registrar of voters
Source, NY Times - 917-03
Some of the silliest rhetoric concerning the recall postponement is coming from an unlikely source - county registrar's offices. Ms. Heffron contends the election has been "canceled." It has not. It has been postponed. The difference between those two words is big enough to drive a semi-truck hauling a mobile home through.
Ms. LaVine's comment is sillier yet, though not surprising. What she's saying is that if the dedicated voters of this state, poor things, get confused enough they will not exercise their right to vote. She is probably right. However, her statement fits in perfectly with my model of "Doorstep Democracy," which says if you make something easy enough for voters, like corner them at a supermarket, they will play along. But, what's this? A snag? A delay? Well, gosh darn it, the voters won't want to vote in a few months, let's get em while the coals are hot.
The problem is, as I have explained in earlier posts, democracy is just not easy, nor is it supposed to be. It takes a little effort from the citizens to make informed choices. Just because things get a bit ragged around the edges is no reason to back out; indeed, it should be enough to convince voters that they need to make a better effort to keep their heads in the game, perhaps on a permanent basis. And this would not be such a bad idea. This recall is not unlike an emotional argument between two people, and one gets so carried away they break something valuable, like perhaps the other person's head. Many people are caught up in the emotion of the moment, but is that the best way to conduct an election process? Would it not be better to take a breath and count to ten, then vote?
Maybe, if there wasn't so much money already being thrown in the toilet which, to be fair, is at the heart of the registrar complaints. About half the money earmarked to conduct the recall has already been spent, and it ain't coming back. Many more bags of money will be needed to do this in March.
And whose fault is that? The 9th Circiut's? The ACLU? Gary Coleman? No, it's the Republicans fault, of course. They were the ones who got this party started, now they are crying foul as they watch it spiral out of their control. Much like the brainiacs who led us into Iraq, they didn't prepare for all of the possible scenarios, and that lack of vision has come back to bite them in the butt. What, you thought opposing moneyed interests were just going to lie back and take it? Democrats do hold virtually every elected office in the state you know.
So $66, 000, 000, already way more than we can afford to spend on the whims of 1/15 of the electorate (who are deciding what's best for the 35 million in the state), will balloon to god knows how much more by the time this fraud has been completed. Now you can see how a tiny car fire on the side of the freeway can turn into a raging brush fire that consumes hundreds and hundreds of acres.
But however many hundreds of millions of dollars it takes is worth it to put that opportunistic, issue-dodging hump Schwarzenegger in the governor's mansion, isn't it?
Isn't it?
"To have this canceled is like preparing for a huge party and having somebody say they don't want to have it."
Kristen L. Heffron - chief deputy, LA County registrar-recorder
"When voters get too confused, they are going to say forget it and walk away."
Jill LaVine - Sacramento registrar of voters
Source, NY Times - 917-03
Some of the silliest rhetoric concerning the recall postponement is coming from an unlikely source - county registrar's offices. Ms. Heffron contends the election has been "canceled." It has not. It has been postponed. The difference between those two words is big enough to drive a semi-truck hauling a mobile home through.
Ms. LaVine's comment is sillier yet, though not surprising. What she's saying is that if the dedicated voters of this state, poor things, get confused enough they will not exercise their right to vote. She is probably right. However, her statement fits in perfectly with my model of "Doorstep Democracy," which says if you make something easy enough for voters, like corner them at a supermarket, they will play along. But, what's this? A snag? A delay? Well, gosh darn it, the voters won't want to vote in a few months, let's get em while the coals are hot.
The problem is, as I have explained in earlier posts, democracy is just not easy, nor is it supposed to be. It takes a little effort from the citizens to make informed choices. Just because things get a bit ragged around the edges is no reason to back out; indeed, it should be enough to convince voters that they need to make a better effort to keep their heads in the game, perhaps on a permanent basis. And this would not be such a bad idea. This recall is not unlike an emotional argument between two people, and one gets so carried away they break something valuable, like perhaps the other person's head. Many people are caught up in the emotion of the moment, but is that the best way to conduct an election process? Would it not be better to take a breath and count to ten, then vote?
Maybe, if there wasn't so much money already being thrown in the toilet which, to be fair, is at the heart of the registrar complaints. About half the money earmarked to conduct the recall has already been spent, and it ain't coming back. Many more bags of money will be needed to do this in March.
And whose fault is that? The 9th Circiut's? The ACLU? Gary Coleman? No, it's the Republicans fault, of course. They were the ones who got this party started, now they are crying foul as they watch it spiral out of their control. Much like the brainiacs who led us into Iraq, they didn't prepare for all of the possible scenarios, and that lack of vision has come back to bite them in the butt. What, you thought opposing moneyed interests were just going to lie back and take it? Democrats do hold virtually every elected office in the state you know.
So $66, 000, 000, already way more than we can afford to spend on the whims of 1/15 of the electorate (who are deciding what's best for the 35 million in the state), will balloon to god knows how much more by the time this fraud has been completed. Now you can see how a tiny car fire on the side of the freeway can turn into a raging brush fire that consumes hundreds and hundreds of acres.
But however many hundreds of millions of dollars it takes is worth it to put that opportunistic, issue-dodging hump Schwarzenegger in the governor's mansion, isn't it?
Isn't it?
BOO HOO HOO
This is for all the moping whiners that are just "outraged" over the "liberal" 9th Circuit Appeals Court decision to delay the recall election. After all, in doing so the court is denying the will of the people and their right to conduct a fair and timely election. In other words, democracy as we know it is being thwarted.
Oh boo hoo hoo.
Democracy, huh? Look at the numbers. There are close to 15 million registered voters in California. Close to 7 million cast ballots in the 2002 election. All it took was 1 million signatures and change to force everyone back out for a special election. Of course, James Madison, in the Federalist, was not writing about partisan state politics when he warned of the "tyranny of the minority," but this is pretty damn close to it. Just because a well-moneyed campaign suckered enough bargain shoppers in front of a Wal-Mart to sign a petition (that wasn't always clear on the aims of the petition, i.e. to boot the governor out), doesn't mean that we are experiencing democracy in action. So 1/15th of the registered electorate has decided it has had enough. They can wait. Everybody knows this is all politics. Before Issa came in with his millions, the recall initiative was nothing more than an unorganized gaggle of cranks, making almost no headway. So don't give me this righteous, indignant "we wuz robbed" argument. It's all politics. One side got the recall - the other side got it delayed (unless it gets un-delayed, of course). If the argument is correct, that the Dems gain an advantage with the delay, so what? Dems were overwhelmingly elected in 2002. If the Terminator's layers are peeled away in the next few months and he is revealed as a buffoon, with no business running the state, so be it. It's possible he could gain credibility as well.
And anyway, let's reverse the process. Let's say it was a Republican being recalled from office and instead of Arnold, we had Warren Beatty or Babs Streisand running - and ducking reporters and appearing on Oprah. What a field day for the yell shows that would be.
Quit crying in your money.
This is for all the moping whiners that are just "outraged" over the "liberal" 9th Circuit Appeals Court decision to delay the recall election. After all, in doing so the court is denying the will of the people and their right to conduct a fair and timely election. In other words, democracy as we know it is being thwarted.
Oh boo hoo hoo.
Democracy, huh? Look at the numbers. There are close to 15 million registered voters in California. Close to 7 million cast ballots in the 2002 election. All it took was 1 million signatures and change to force everyone back out for a special election. Of course, James Madison, in the Federalist, was not writing about partisan state politics when he warned of the "tyranny of the minority," but this is pretty damn close to it. Just because a well-moneyed campaign suckered enough bargain shoppers in front of a Wal-Mart to sign a petition (that wasn't always clear on the aims of the petition, i.e. to boot the governor out), doesn't mean that we are experiencing democracy in action. So 1/15th of the registered electorate has decided it has had enough. They can wait. Everybody knows this is all politics. Before Issa came in with his millions, the recall initiative was nothing more than an unorganized gaggle of cranks, making almost no headway. So don't give me this righteous, indignant "we wuz robbed" argument. It's all politics. One side got the recall - the other side got it delayed (unless it gets un-delayed, of course). If the argument is correct, that the Dems gain an advantage with the delay, so what? Dems were overwhelmingly elected in 2002. If the Terminator's layers are peeled away in the next few months and he is revealed as a buffoon, with no business running the state, so be it. It's possible he could gain credibility as well.
And anyway, let's reverse the process. Let's say it was a Republican being recalled from office and instead of Arnold, we had Warren Beatty or Babs Streisand running - and ducking reporters and appearing on Oprah. What a field day for the yell shows that would be.
Quit crying in your money.
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