Extremists Under the Bed!

John Seiler:

The Extremists are Coming!

In the comments section to my blog yesterday, “Recall Jerry Brown!” , are two related comments. Jeff Gallagher wrote:

It’s clear that the Republicans have been unable to field a viable candidate [for governor] who is not pre-occupied with polling numbers. The public, in general, is tired of extreme politics, left or right. Where is the true voice of the people? And, if he or she is out there, how will we hear them over th din of pandering by both sides?

And our frequent commentator, StevefromSacto, wrote about the recall, which produced Arnold: “Yeah, how’d the last one work out for you?” StevefromSacto added:

Jeff Gallagher is right: The people of California are sick of extremist politics. Gov. Brown is trying to gather reasonable and responsible members of both parties into a coalition to help our state weather the storm.Maybe that’s why you are so frightened.

But where are these “extremists” they talk about? Like Reds in the 1950s, Red State extremists must be Under the Bed. I can’t find them anywhere else.

Liberal Democrats run the Legislature with large majorities, and hold all seven statewide elected offices. Last November, voters even allowed majority votes to pass a budget by passing Proposition 25.

And for that matter, liberal Democrats also run the White House and the U.S. Senate; for the previous four years, they also ran the U.S. House. Liberal Democrats also hold four of nine U.S. Supreme Court seats, and liberal Republican Justice Anthony Kennedy frequently jonis them to form a 5-4 liberal majority.

Even Republicans in Congress are spendthrifts, excepting Rep. Ron Paul and a couple of others. They ran up the deficits when they ran Congress when Bush was president. So far, they haven’t done much of anything to cut the $1.6 trillion deficit and the $14 trillion debt.

I don’t see small-government types like me running anything in California or America. We just pay the bills.

The only control Republicans have in the California Legislature is in two areas: A 2/3 supermajority still is needed to pass tax increases. And a 2/3 supermajority is needed to put tax increases directly on the ballot.

That’s it.

And if Gov. Jerry Brown and other Democrats want to get around that 2/3 requirement, it’s simple: Just call a special election and gather signatures for a tax increase proposition. Brown could do it for November.

But Brown wants a couple of Republicans in the Legislature to back putting a tax increase on the ballot, thus meeting the 2/3 requirement, so he can say, “See, even Republicans think it’s a good idea.”

Extremists under the bed? Sorry. The high taxes killed their jobs and they all left the state.

May 19, 2011