(Grover, and not the good one, is insidious… – promoted by SFBrianCL)

When I notice the Governor blaming Davis or the Democratic Legislature for the ‘mess’ or the ‘broken system’, I get really ticked off mostly because I think there’s more to the dynamic than just the Dems. Just as bad: his idea of ‘reform’ as the solution to the ‘broken system’. Yeah right.  

One example too late: now we know ‘taking it to the people of Cah-li-for-nia’ means putting on a special election for corporate interests at taxpayer expense.  Let’s not fall for that one again.

As is my wont, I think it’s time to shine some light on two strong Norquista influences having a lot to do with our mess/broken system/dysfunction. I won’t disagree this mess/broken system/dysfunction exists; my purpose is to call attention to these other elements.

Item One: The Norquist Pledge, which renders bipartisanship a farce.

I first heard about this Pledge from State Senator Sheila Kuehl in a speech she made once. You are kidding, was my short reaction.  She said every Republican must sign this Pledge before they run for office as a Republican.

But it’s real. Here it is straight from World News and Report, not just in a paper by some obscure partisan academic hack:

This winter, Kentucky State Rep. Stephen Nunn considered doing what would have been unthinkable a decade ago: supporting a tax hike. So, having signed antitax crusader Grover Norquist’s “no new taxes” pledge during his 1996 race, Nunn wrote Norquist to rescind the pledge. He quickly discovered that it wouldn’t be that easy. Norquist replied by outlining the arduous process for getting off the pledge list maintained by his group, Americans for Tax Reform. Nunn would have to hold a press conference with Norquist–and win re-election on a pro-tax platform. “I do not have the power to release you . . . ,” Norquist wrote. “Only your voters can do that.”

This threat of the Pledge means there is no room for bipartisanship. Some of you may recall the vividly angry quote by Norquist describing bipartisanship as the equivalent of date rape.  

BTW, Sheila Kuehl suggested the way to get around the pledge is to vote in as many Dems as possible everywhere.  Excellent point.

As for the Governor’s frequent threats about raising taxes if we don’t pass 76, well, what a very interesting thing to say. Do you think he’ll raise taxes given his pledge to Norquist? Nah. Doubt it. More likely the Governor is misspeaking his talking points again. It would blow my mind if someone asks him to clarify this at a press conference or at a town hall.  

Item Two: The 2/3 Majority Vote to pass a tax

Oh, another Norquist coincidence! Well, that’s alright because I’m a coincidence theorist.

The 2/3 majority vote happens to be part of another Norquist 50 state agenda (the so-called paycheck deception scheme is another).  In fact, they’d like to see a super-majority vote in all the states.

The equation: when you add the Norquist Pledge plus the 2/3 majority vote into the Sacramento equation, you get total legislative gridlock.

So the next time you hear about the “Broken System Needing Reform” refrain from the Governor, remember the Norquista elements: the Pledge and the 50 state campaign to shut down legislatures everywhere. The Governor is painting the problem as being the hapless hopeless Democratic dweebs in the Legislature. For the record, I don’t buy into this characterization of our Democratic legislators but, believe me,  I know many many many many others who believe this about our Dems in the Legislature.  No wonder their popularity is so low.

The Norquista influence has made a difference in California politics. Unfortunate we’re not hearing about it.

Even more to the point: if the Governor’s initiatives win in California’s very Special Election, it will become even more difficult for the real people’s voice be heard as the public interest unions become diminished in their voice (esp. Prop. 75 and Prop. 74) and as the Governor gains amazingly scary powers to cut the budget without any adult oversight, which is Prop. 76.

Instead, it’ll be government by the Rich People, for the Rich People and by the Rich People after this special election. And, darn, we even paid for this election, hoisted on to us by the Rich People.

If you’re ticked off as I am, please get your britches into an Alliance phone bank or join the local California for Democracy office to help get out the vote.

It’s a bummer we paid for this corporate election but we might as well show up and vote.

(Wanted to bump this back up, as there’s some good conversation in the comments. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

When was it decided not to dredge up from the past into our conscious awareness the legacy and consequences of Prop. 13? I’m not sure who can be blamed for this, whether it be the media or ourselves, but I regret we collectively are clueless about the legacy of Prop. 13.  

Prop. 13 laid the groundwork for this special election in California on November 8th.  Passed in 1978, Prop. 13 was something most people in CA knows simply as the one which froze property taxes.  

Another thing it did, something we should have seared into our brains, is this: because of Prop. 13 (and resulting developments), we lost local control over our property tax money. And this loss of control has had huge political implications.

From a Rand report:…local voters lost some of their incentive to spend so much on schools, thus precipitating a substantial decline in statewide school spending relative to that in other states. The decline in spending likely led to larger class sizes and, perhaps, to lower achievement levels for students in California compared with those across the nation…

Our tax money goes to Sacramento, to be stirred into one huge pot and then to be divvied out to those who have the most power; prior to this, much of that money went to a local pot, where local control and access ruled.

But so what, you might ask?  

Prop. 13 legislated learned helplessness, used colloquially. We, the moms and dads, the regular people in California, now had to literally learn a whole new skill set if we wanted to effectively compete with corporate lobbyists and other professionals who literally live in Sacramento to lobby for our state money.  Learned helplessness, btw, is the response, in experimental settings, of creatures such as rats, who find they no longer have any control over outcome and so they give up.

Now did we rise up to this challenge and learn a whole new skillset so we could go and lobby for our interests in Sacramento?  Uh. No.  It’s asking a lot, and we just haven’t risen to this challenge.

One consequence has been erosion of funding to the schools.

Prop. 13 made it infinitely more difficult for parents to have any say in money for school funds. And to reiterate, we know the cold reality is the average parent does not have the political savvy, time, money or skillset to wander over to Sacramento and advocate for school funds for our kids.  Prop. 13 thus ended up fostering a sense of complacency, and we’ve ended up supremely disconnected from the politicking going on in Sacramento.  

According to Governor Schwarzenegger, Sacramento is this mythical place where special interests have taken over California.  He’s simply calculating people don’t understand what’s going on in Sacramento.  By calling unions a special interest group and denigrating their important role in the whole fight against corporate interests, he’s hoping he can skunk us.

The unions representing public workers, under clear attack in this election in Prop. 75, the anti-union bill, have stepped up to the plate to protect the public interest. The rest of us, the parents, have really taken a back seat in Sacramento; we aren’t organized, with the ability to fund people to help us advocate, unlike corporate interests.

Prop. 75 backers hope to castrate public worker unions with this bill, thus setting the stage for unfettered big business access in Sacramento for our money.  When the Governor states the special interests are the problem, he’s really saying the unions are in the way of his agenda.

Along with Prop. 76 which gives amazingly wicked budget-cutting powers to the Governor, a Prop. 75 win will allow corporate interests to win.

It’s all about power and money in this special election, with Prop. 13 setting the stage decades ago.  

This election will be won by the side with the most votes.  Getting out the vote will make the difference. Email your friends and family. Get involved in your local Democratic party and with the Alliance to get out the vote.