Newsom with his political stunt called Prop 50 “Won”.
Of course he won, Newsom and the California Democratic machine always “wins”
In one of the most gerrymandered states, Newsom gets to gerrymander it further.
The original California Redistricting commission, whose charter says something about grouping communities with similar interests and needs made our congressional representation Judy Chu who in addition to being wholly ineffective has the heart of her district in the wealthy Pasadena, Montrose, La Cañada / Flintridge, Alta Dena areas.
Those of us living in the mountain communities and high desert have little in common with those areas. We were better off with Jay Olbernolte who actually lives in the mountain community of Big Bear. He’s also lived his whole life in and around the high desert if I recall correctly.
But the difference between La Cañada / Flintridge is astounding. They’re concerned about whether their Latte is properly mixed, the people on this side of the mountain are concerned about paying our heating bills so we don’t freeze to death.
Their interests are if the automatic gate to their community is working, our interests are is the freeway open so that we can get to work.
Our communities have very little in common. Not that it matters because the candidates that are presented from that side of the mountain literally don’t know where we are nor do they know anything about the “Fly Over” area they see from their first class window seats as they fly to Las Vegas or Lake Tahoe for the weekend.
After the census when the redistricting commission was doing their work, Jerry & I spent a lot of time on phone calls and writing letters politely explaining why some of their redistricting schemes improperly grouped us with communities that had nothing in common with us.
We managed, with our voices joining with thousands of others to prevent some of the worst ideas. But it was clear that the Commission itself was seeking to slice up Republican strongholds. The mountain communities and the high desert is unsurprisingly, heavily Republican, Libertarian, or independent conservative. There’s a lot of working class people who have little time or concern about the “Feel Good” Democrat agenda. We want low crime, were/are fighting to stop illegal pot farms that steal water from fire hydrants to water their pot harvests and enforce their will with illegal guns. We want the roads to be maintained, and a lot of us moved up here to get away from the noise, crime, and insanity of the cities. There’s a lot of folks here who escaped LA, choosing to commute 80 miles to work, so they could have peace & quiet. They wanted to live in a high trust environment and know their neighbors.
Unfortunately, a large chunk of this area got consumed by a democrat district. Oddly, the democrat district is one of 3 that cover the foothills from Glendora to Rancho Cucamonga. Even stranger, is that the district that consumed us, isn’t even the closest.
Clearly, whatever “Logic” the California Redistricting commission used was designed to associate an extremely wealthy LA suburb with people on the completely opposite side of the financial spectrum.
It wasn’t just the congressional district. It was the state representative district too. By the time all the wrangling was done, we went from a Republican congressional district and a swing seat state representative district to solid Democrat representation all the way. Before the redistricting we could actually contact someone and get things taken care of.
Neither level of representatives have ever visited this area. Judy Chu as a photo op tried banging on an ICE detention center in Adelanto once, a few months ago demanding entrance. Adelanto is not in her district and I’m sure she didn’t have any clue where she was. She could have dropped by a community center meeting or two on that Tuesday as she headed back to the lap of luxury in her Pasadena area home.
I don’t even know the state representative’s name. He’s wholly ineffective and the few times I dialed into his “Town Hall” conferences he refused to answer any questions from folks on this side of the mountain, concentrating instead on the LA side of his district. (Truth to tell, I don’t think the guy even knew he represented those folks.)
All of this is to say, when the redistricting commission was done with us, we effectively had no real representation. It was representation in name only.
Now along comes Newsom. Not content with lots of disenfranchised people, he wants to make even more people un-represented. He wants to silence dissenting voices to his authority and even though he’s on his way out, he wants to screw over more people of California.
I suspect he’s got two goals here. 1) He’s using the California electorate to give a middle finger to President Trump. 2) He’s setting up a solid Newsom voting bloc called California to propel his Presidential Aspirations.
It should be noted that a huge chunk of California called San Bernardino County actually voted to investigate secession from the state of California to become the 51st state. In part because Newsom’s management of California state resources left the entire country without many needed resources that they pay for in taxation. San Bernardino county is larger in total square miles than some entire states on the east coast.
Newsom doesn’t care though, it won’t be his problem and the next election cycle which will put a new governor in Sacramento will cause the people of San Bernardino to pause their efforts hoping that the new governor will be a good one.
In my opinion, they’ll be pissing into the wind. The next governor of the state will in all likelihood be just as bad as Newsom.
It’s with all of this frustration as a backdrop that I voted “NO” on Prop 50 on Tuesday.
I knew going in that my time would be better spent jerking off in a truckstop toilet but I voted anyway.
Even as I was casting my vote on a single issue, (it was the only issue on the ballot,) I thought to myself why bother voting at all in California? All dissenting voices are immediately drowned out by the majority of Democrat voters. Many of whom, apparently thought they were voting to impeach President Trump.
So in addition to the one party rule the Democrat party has in California. A rather substantial portion of those Democrat voters have no clue how the government works at either a State or Federal level. They happily vote against whatever “Enemy” the Democrat party tells them to.
So I thought to myself, “Why bother?”
There is no way voting in anything to do with California politics will change the outcome. No matter how much research or effort I put into carefully considering my position on a candidate it will not matter. Nor will other people like me ever regain any kind of voice in California politics. (As an aside, I vote the candidate, not the party.)
Newsom is technically violating California Law with Proposition 50. It’s billed as a “Temporary” measure. But there’s no real expiration date on it. I suppose that the 2030 census could reset the Governor’s ability to redraw district maps. But by then, no-one will remember that the California redistricting commission actually has that control and de-facto the redistricting will remain under the direct control of the Governor’s office.
Who’s the “King”? The Dictator? This is some real 3rd world shit right here.
This realization has led me to believe that voting here is a pointless exercise and that California is lost.
I’d been contemplating moving to an all RED state. Then I thought, “That’s the exact same bullshit you have in California, just the other side of the coin.”
Now I contemplating moving to a state that is conservative leaning, but Purple. It seems that if I’m going to move, perhaps a purple state would have more people like me. Folks that are interested and engaged in exercising their right to vote for the benefit of the people of the state, not the enrichment or control of political parties. People who can have discussions and debates about ideas without fear of being cancelled or having violence done to them.
Then it occurred to me that what I’m seeking is the real American spirit. A concept of “One for all and all for one.”
Realistically, that has probably never truly existed. Humans are after all, inherently self centered and self absorbed. That concept is a dream and it has two sides. One is Communism and the other is a constitutional Republic.
In the one, it’s about government mandated compliance, in the other it’s about the willingness to compromise so that everyone “Hopefully” rises and lives the life they choose in the way that they choose.
Surprisingly Newsom may have done something good for me personally. He changed my view about what kind of state I wish to live in. So I guess I owe him thanks for broadening my perspective.
I also think that I’ll hold off buying a new house. Instead I’ll rent maybe in several places until after the 2028 election. If Newsom by hook or crook should “win” the Presidency then I’ll be able to move out of the United States and live out my days somewhere else like Poland, in peace.