California Dreaming

In 2008, California voters approved an initiative so common-sensical that it's hard to believe it passed.  Proposition 11 took the job of creating legislative districts away from the state legislature and gave it to a non-partisan fourteen member commission.  In other words, no longer would career politicians have the authority to create districts designed to ensure either the re-election of incumbents or one party's stranglehold on a legislative seat.  Instead, a commission comprised of five Democrats, five Republicans, and four members of neither party would draw district boundaries.  In subsequent elections, the top two finishers in district primaries would face each other in a general election, regardless of party affiliation (i.e., if the top two finishers were both Democrats or both Republicans, they would compete against each other, rather than against a less-successful candidate of the opposing party).

Impartial drawing of legislative districts!  What a concept!  Who could be against that?

Well, career politicians who suddenly find themselves having to appeal to a broader electorate, sure.  But what real people could be against that?

And now, California is enjoying the results.  A legislature that has to be at least somewhat responsive to the general public--as opposed to special interests or to the most-extreme wings of its members' constituencies--has actually managed to, y'know, legislate.  Skeptics will point out that the only reason such harmony exists is that  the legislature has come to be dominated by one party--Democrats--who also hold the governorship.  They may be right.  Of course, non-skeptics would point out that the fact that Democrats dominate the legislature following non-partisan redistricting simply shows how artificial and unrepresentative the previous district boundaries were.

Furthermore, despite Democratic control of everything, California has hardly become a socialist paradise.  Yes, significant left-wing legislation has been passed, allowing such things as driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, but at the same time, according to an article in today's Times, 39 out of 40 bills identified as "job killers" by the typically Republican-friendly Chamber of Commerce have gone down to defeat.  In other words, when legislators don't have to cater only to one side of the political aisle, they can afford to take what they see as common-sense stands in accordance with their own judgment.  This is not to say that their judgments are always right, but we have become so used to knee-jerk liberalism or conservatism, that it is refreshing to see moderation, especially when it seems to be associated with functioning governance.

California has often served as a testing ground for national policies.  Maybe the rest of the country could take a note from the Golden State now.

Sports Night

Tonight's game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers is going to be the best game ever!  Why?  Because the Cardinals' starting pitcher is one Michael Wacha, which means every time he strikes somebody out, I get to yell, "Wakka-wakka-wakkaaaaa!"  And WOS has promised not to throw anything at me!

Vallejo: A Spot Exciting, Mystic, and Exotic

This year's ballot for Vallejo City Council features one "Pippin Dew."  I know nothing about this person's political affiliation or stands on the issues; for all I know he (she?) is a card-carrying member of the Kitten Electrocution Brigade.  Nevertheless, I feel I must vote for him (her?) because, well, you know, "Pippin Dew"!  How can I resist the opportunity to vote for that name?  Indeed, when given the choice, I will always vote for the stupid name.  You can imagine how conflicted I was over last year's race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.  Indeed, my one and only regret is that I was not alive in 1956 to cast a vote for the Adlai Stevenson-Estes Kefauver ticket!

Seriously, my ONLY regret!

I Hope President Obama Can Survive the Humiliation. . . .

Our not-so-long national nightmare is finally over!  The House of Representatives just approved a Senate bill to finance the government and raise the debt ceiling, paving the way for the restoration of government services and the return of furloughed workers.  Analysts portray the deal as a complete repudiation of the Republican Party's extremist wing, a political defeat of historic proportions, but this is unfair.

True, the Tea Party faction failed to achieve its primary goal--defunding the Affordable Care Act--but everybody knew they would fail.  Saying the Republicans lost that battle is like saying the New York Mets lost this year's World Series: They were never in it to begin with. 

And, sure, right now the Republican "brand" is about as popular as anal herpes, but given the American electorate's attention span, they have every possibility of bouncing back by next year's elections--unless they are stupid enough to pick this kind of battle again next October.  With Michele Bachmann retiring, though, the collective IQ of the GOP congressional caucus will probably rise just enough to allow them to avoid that debacle.  Too bad.

But amidst all the bad news for the GOP, let's not overlook the silver lining, the major concession they managed to wring from recalcitrant Democrats: a "slight tightening of income verification rules for Americans accessing new health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act."

I know you probably think that doesn't sound like much, but that's because you don't know what it really means!  The Tea Party scored a major victory here.  (My fellow liberals better brace themselves.)  According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, under the rules approved as part of this budget deal, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must "report to Congress by Jan. 1st on the 'procedures' in place to verify eligibility" for subsidies offered to help people pay for health insurance.  And as if that weren't enough, by July 1st, the Secretary must report on the effectiveness of the verification!

Well, Tea Party, I tip my hat!  You sure showed us!  I hope it was worth it.

Miscellany--A Brief Post

The Forbes site has an article, "5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM."  I was intrigued, until I realized that one of them was probably, "Wake up."

Irony and Hypocrisy

Last week, in one of his typically insightful rants, Jon Stewart excoriated the Republicans for--brace yourself!--their hypocrisy in attempting to shift the blame for the continuing governmental shutdown onto President Obama, claiming that it is his unwillingness to negotiate that is unnecessarily prolonging the stalemate. 

 

Essentially, he points out that if Republicans want to claim that they are standing on principle and protecting Americans from what they sincerely believe to be catastrophically misguided legislation (the Affordable Care Act), then that's fine...but they have to "own it"--and willingly accept whatever consequences they suffer in the court of public opinion.  And while I always revel in an explication of GOP hypocrisy, I was struck yesterday by the irony of the Republicans' situation.

Because if the Cruz-controlled GOP hadn't shut down the government over Obamacare, they could right now be making tremendous political hay over the utter SNAFU that has thus far characterized the rollout of the Affordable Care Act.  An article in yesterday's Times catalogued the ongoing technical problems that have plagued the online portal where people could go to get information and ultimately to sign up for the insurance exchanges that are the centerpiece of the ACA.  While administration officials are hopeful that the glitches will be fixed soon, Republicans have cost themselves an opportunity for a "told-you-so" to end all "told-you-so's."  Because even if they could find people in the general public--i.e., those who haven't drunk the Tea-Party brewed Kool Aid--to listen to another one of their strident denunciations of this "existential threat to the nation," all President Obama would have to do is turn around and say that, yes, there are technical problems with the ACA website, but these problems could be fixed a lot faster if, y'know, THE REPUBLICANS HADN'T SHUT DOWN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!

The modern Republican Party: Hoist on their own petard since 2009!