FIGHTING FOR A BETTER FUTURE
The side that knows what it’s fighting for is going to win.
It’s not enough to know what you’re fighting against. Even with superior weaponry, the side that fights without knowing what it’s fighting for is going to meander in ambivalence, spending money and taking casualties, while the other side acts with purpose, resolve, persistence and ferocity.
This is how America was defeated in Afghanistan, and this is how the Republican Party, in recent decades, has been defeated in California.
The recall election is an opportunity to reset politics in the Golden State, and it may already have done so. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s epic failures and clueless arrogance have disgusted enough Californians to qualify a recall election of the governor for only the second time in state history, and although Newsom may hang on, the thick pile of cash he had to coerce from donors to try to keep the job is evidence that California is not a happy place right now.
Since 1911, Californians have had the power to take matters into their own hands and set things right, as voters see it.
The recall election is a healthy exercise in accountability. Political power belongs not to the people who hold it, but to the people who grant it.
In California, elected officials at all levels have failed the people who delegated power to them. All the problems in the state can be fixed, but they won’t be fixed unless the political process produces a rational debate about solutions.
This is an opportunity for the Republican Party. Good people have stepped up to run for governor, and many others have stepped forward to get involved as supporters. Politics isn’t easy, and people pay a heavy personal price — especially conservatives in California — for speaking out in opposition to the Democrats in power. That so many people are willing to do it anyway should tell you how bad it is for so many people in this state right now.
It’s not a statistical error that California has lost population and a congressional seat for the first time in its history. It’s a middle-class evacuation. Families with children are fleeing to states with better schools and lower taxes. Retirees are moving away to escape the high cost of living. Businesses are leaking into other states, gradually ex
“The Democratic political machine that runs California is a toxic brew of ruthlessness and vanity, disconnected from the problems devastating middleclass families and out-of-touch with the lives of the people who have never been to the French Laundry.”
panding their operations outside of California and moving their headquarters, too, a message that they don’t want this state on their letterhead, or on their shoes.
Regardless of the outcome of the recall election, there is another election in 2022. The governor will be on the ballot, and so will the entire 80-member Assembly and half the state Senate. Mayors, city council members, county supervisors and school board members will be on
the ballot. The entire congressional delegation will be on the ballot. The secretary of state, who runs elections, will be on the ballot, and so will the attorney general, who writes titles and summaries for ballot measures.
California Republicans who understand what they’re fighting for, not just what they’re fighting against, can win anywhere in this state, because people are hurting everywhere and they need government officials who hear them. Anyone working in GOP politics who is currently drawing a salary or fees for specializing in explaining that Republicans
can’t win should go and find another job.
One of the most dispiriting things in politics is the craven cynicism of professionals who really don’t want to win, because a winner becomes an office-holder and a political power center, and that’s in the way of people who want to exploit the machinery of the party and its earnest, frustrated donors for personal gain.
Outsider candidates are a threat to the whole operation.
Too bad.
If everything was fine in California, a little corruption would matter a lot less. But it’s more than a
little, and things are not fine.
When the recall election is over, regardless of the outcome, the current GOP candidates for governor and their supporters should start organizing to restore a two-party system in California. Coalitions win elections. Feuds do not.
In every district, in every race, a credible Republican candidate should be making the argument to voters that better policies can give this state better schools, abundant and affordable electricity and water, more housing in more places, and safe, clean streets. Better policies
can shelter the homeless and provide worldclass care for people suffering from severe mental illness and substance use disorder. Better policies can encourage businesses to expand in California and provide high-paying jobs that create a generous stream of public revenue to fund a generous safety net, without high tax rates. That’s something to fight for.
The Democratic political machine that runs California is a toxic brew of ruthlessness and vanity, disconnected from the problems devastating middle-class families and outof-touch with the lives of the people who have never been to the French Laundry.
“The consequences of this election are profound,” Newsom said this week. “If they can take California, a progressive blue state, think about the impact that will have on Nancy Pelosi’s future ... on the entire Biden agenda.”
They know what they’re fighting for. Power. Permanent, unquestionable power.
Know what you’re fighting for. Then fight for it.