{"id":13260,"date":"2011-03-15T19:24:16","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T19:24:16","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-03-15T19:24:16","modified_gmt":"2011-03-15T19:24:16","slug":"the-gop-is-scared-of-their-base-democrats-loathe-theirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/2011\/03\/15\/the-gop-is-scared-of-their-base-democrats-loathe-theirs\/","title":{"rendered":"The GOP is Scared of Their Base, Democrats Loathe Theirs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike the Democratic Party Conventions, the Republican party meets twice per year in their big shindigs.  They do tend to be a little smaller events, but just as rowdy.  Now, there is something about the Republican base that just isn’t the case on the left.  As commentators as diverse as David Frum and Glenn Greenwald<\/a> will tell you, Republicans are scared of their base, Democrats hate theirs.<\/p>\n

It’s true in DC, and it’s true in Sacramento.  Let’s just take a few samples: Democrats are busy cutting into long-term progressive programs.  Programs that work, and save us long-term money.  For example, look at Cal-Works.  In response to the seemingly endless calls for “welfare reform”, we have proven that using best practices and sociological research, you can build a strong and beneficial program.  It has helped rebuild many families, and heck, even the LA Times wants to see funding restored<\/a>.  Or look at Medi-Cal, or higher education funding.  Time after time, Democrats are negotiating with themselves on how we devastate the state.<\/p>\n

Now, look at the Republicans, where are they are terrified of their base.  Heck, Tony Strickland started the Tea Party<\/strike> “Taxpayer’s” caucus just to show his fealty.  Perhaps it is wise, after all, their base goes after their electeds for even putting taxes on the ballot:<\/p>\n

The California Republican Assembly, a hard-line conservative group, has introduced a resolution for consideration at the party convention in Sacramento to censure lawmakers who vote in favor of putting additional taxes on a special election ballot.<\/p>\n

Calling them “traitorous Republicans-in-name-only,” the resolution also calls for their resignation, would put the party’s support behind any recall effort against them and would prohibit the party from helping those lawmakers in future elections.(SF Chronicle<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And as Anthony Adams learned last year, you very well can be forced to hit the road before your time is up.  Now, perhaps this changes under Top 2 if you get two Republicans into a general election, however, given how these elections generally run, that isn’t likely to happen.  Very few Republican districts are really THAT Republican where two Republicans would meet in the general election.<\/p>\n

And so, the Republicans continue to live in fear of their base.  On the left, Democrats can blame Prop 13 and the obstructionist Republicans for everything.  No need to cater to your base when you have a mushy middle that can win you elections.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Brown seems to think a budget deal will happen this week.  I, however, am not so convinced that he can get sufficient votes in both houses.  It may take more time, and it may take another nasty item on the June ballot.<\/p>\n

Or a majority vote measure.  Pick your poison, I suppose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike the Democratic Party Conventions, the Republican party meets twice per year in their big shindigs.  They do tend to be a little smaller events, but just as rowdy.  Now, there is something about the Republican base that just isn’t the case on the left.  As commentators as diverse as David Frum and Glenn Greenwald<\/a> will tell you, Republicans are scared of their base, Democrats hate theirs.<\/p>\n

It’s true in DC, and it’s true in Sacramento.  Let’s just take a few samples: Democrats are busy cutting into long-term progressive programs.  Programs that work, and save us long-term money.  For example, look at Cal-Works.  In response to the seemingly endless calls for “welfare reform”, we have proven that using best practices and sociological research, you can build a strong and beneficial program.  It has helped rebuild many families, and heck, even the LA Times wants to see funding restored<\/a>.  Or look at Medi-Cal, or higher education funding.  Time after time, Democrats are negotiating with themselves on how we devastate the state.<\/p>\n

Now, look at the Republicans, where are they are terrified of their base.  Heck, Tony Strickland started the Tea Party<\/strike> “Taxpayer’s” caucus just to show his fealty.  Perhaps it is wise, after all, their base goes after their electeds for even putting taxes on the ballot:<\/p>\n

The California Republican Assembly, a hard-line conservative group, has introduced a resolution for consideration at the party convention in Sacramento to censure lawmakers who vote in favor of putting additional taxes on a special election ballot.<\/p>\n

Calling them “traitorous Republicans-in-name-only,” the resolution also calls for their resignation, would put the party’s support behind any recall effort against them and would prohibit the party from helping those lawmakers in future elections.(SF Chronicle<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And as Anthony Adams learned last year, you very well can be forced to hit the road before your time is up.  Now, perhaps this changes under Top 2 if you get two Republicans into a general election, however, given how these elections generally run, that isn’t likely to happen.  Very few Republican districts are really THAT Republican where two Republicans would meet in the general election.<\/p>\n

And so, the Republicans continue to live in fear of their base.  On the left, Democrats can blame Prop 13 and the obstructionist Republicans for everything.  No need to cater to your base when you have a mushy middle that can win you elections.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Brown seems to think a budget deal will happen this week.  I, however, am not so convinced that he can get sufficient votes in both houses.  It may take more time, and it may take another nasty item on the June ballot.<\/p>\n

Or a majority vote measure.  Pick your poison, I suppose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-117"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pvhz-3rS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}