Hi Everyone,
Back when the state of California was going through it's special recall election, now Governor Schwarzenegger was found of saying things like, "the problem is that there are too many politicians. What we need is one leader for all the people." Coming from the son of an Austrian NAZI policeman these are chilling words. But most people, even some Democrats said that Schwarzenegger was a moderate who was preferable to the less charismatic moderate, Grey Davis.
But now we find out that Schwarzenegger may be a chip off the old block and Bush's GOP is encouraging Governor Muscles to follow in his father's footsteps. The LA Times is reporting this weekend that Schwarzenegger's California department of Homeland Security and the California National Guard have been secretly monitoring and tracking the political activities of animal rights groups, anti-war groups and other legal, liberal groups.
Many people in California are trying to justify voting for Schwarzenegger because they think the Democratic candidate is not inspiring. This story should make it clear that even an incompetent, even a fiscally corrupt and ambitious politician is preferable to Schwarzenegger and his plan to turn California into a kind of Vichy Kahleefornya on Bush's behalf! A vote for Scharzenegger is a vote for tyranny plain and simple. And in our two party system, a vote for anything other than a Democrat is a vote for tyranny.
At least for the next couple of elections we must make it clear to each other that support for or even failure to strategically oppose the Bush-Rove-Cheney version of the Republican party is just not morally justifiable.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Something Rotten in California
Posted by Raised By Republicans at 12:35 PM
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5 comments:
RbR writes: "A vote for Schwarzenegger is a vote for tyranny plain and simple. And in our two party system, a vote for anything other than a Democrat is a vote for tyranny."
While I certainly will be voting Democrat--and while I agree with RbR that resisting the current national Republican party is a moral duty--I cannot condone the kind of hysteria I see in RbR's remarks.
Schwarzenegger is not a Nazi! He's not trying to make us into a "Vichy Kahleefornya" (whatever that means). And as for the inappropriate surveillance by the CA DHS, the governor's office has condemned the intelligence reports as "totally unacceptable" and has released their entire dossier of reports to show that the transgressions were limited to the two that were reported. And even if there were others, I would be stunned if he had any idea that it was going on.
While I certainly hope he will lose in November, I suspect that the electoral defeat of a relatively moderate, pro-choice Republican governor like Scwharzenegger will only strengthen the Bush wing of the party. There are plenty of Bush-Rove-Cheney politicians out there, but Arnold is not one of them. And while (again) I support Angelides strongly, I believe there is merit in turning down the rhetoric a notch.
I am so disgusted by Angelides that I am considering voting for a third party. Unless this is true about Arnie, because that's beyond the pale.
// posted by LTG
OK, so maybe Arnie's not a NAZI (But his Daddy sure was). But I'm not convinced by Dr. S's interpretation of what Schwarzenegger is doing to reveal the spying. He's not releasing all the transcripts but only those that have been approved. And he's previously promised that no such spying was going on at all and only says he's sorry now that the story is out.
What I meant by "Vichy Kahleefornya" was that here we have a majority liberal-Democrat state with a governor who is far closer to Bush than most people are willing to admit. These abuses of police power are serious and cannot be dismissed as inflamatory rhetoric.
All Republicans must be defeated in 2006 and LTG's attempt at third party game playing is just Nader 2000 all over again - a recipe for disaster.
A third party candidate will not and cannot win in California's governor race. The GOP will be marching in lock step as usual. If the friends of liberty and democracy don't unify behind the most likely candidate to defeat the Republicans, the Republicans will win again.
LTG, what's your big problem with Angelides anyway? Do you think he will praise the "Minute Men?" or tolerate/order state officials to spy on political opponents? Or is he just a run of the mill hand the till kind of guy? I'd pay for a lot of graft to purge our democracy of the Republican party as it exists today.
// posted by Raised By Republicans
LTG: what is the source of your disgust with Angelides? Was it his campaign against Westly? The Angelides campaign against Westly was nasty, yes, but Westly was no saint either--and it did not seem any worse than the usual mudslinging that goes on these days (alas).
Or has Angelides done something else? For my part, Angelides has said many things I agree with--including promising to make gay marriage a reality in California--so I'm all for the guy.
Well, I met Angelides in 1992 in San Diego, and he was perfectly uninspiring. Since then, I have observed him as a party hack. I call him "Gray Davis without the personality." California needs serious reform, not someone who will no doubt spend every penny brought in on projects to benefit the special interests that support him (teacher's union, prison guards, etc.) to encourage a bloated bureaucracy and no reforms, no decreases in college tuition, etc. California will sink deeper into a morass. Arnie's major infrastructure proposal is the first good thing in CA politics in nearly 25 years. Were it not for the gay marriage thing (and that I think he's a moron) I would consider voting for him.
Also, yes, his campaign against Westly stank like morbier cheese. Westly had Big Ideas. Angelides had tired rhetoric. He kept accusing Westly of supporting Arnie, when all Westly did was try to do his best as Controller to do his job - which was figuring out how to keep the state afloat despite the governor's budgetary idiocy. Frankly, Angelides represents the worst the Democratic party has to offer right now: a small-thinking toady to special interests who won the nomination largely because it was viewed as "his turn" by the establishment. He will probably win the election by a small margin.
Oh yeah, and he's a developer. Jeez. He'll also try to run for President soon, which is a joke.
// posted by LTG
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