California Election Irritations
So... not even gonna start on the various primaries for elected officials. On the propositions on this ballot though--
It never ceases to amaze me just how stupid so many of California's voting sheeple are!
Lemme start: okie, another issue labelled Prop 13-- let's not reevalute property tax values after renovating them to fit Earthquake safety codes... okay, I can see why so many selfish pricks in the electorate want to reject ANY POSSIBLE WAY THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE TO ACTUALLY PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE in property taxes-- after all, that's what the original Prop 13 was all about. Shouldn't surprise me-- this is just people voting in their own selfish *SHORT-SIGHTED* vision of their self-interest... and ensuring that the State budget will continue to be screwed every way they can (this admittedly is just a small piece of it). But they'll still be screaming for state benefits for the rich.
Prop 14: Now we get to why I'm pissed off this morning. Prop 14-- no more real primaries... Now, it's everyone gets to vote on every candidate, regardless of party, affiliation, etc, in the so-called primary, and *ONLY* the top two get to be on the ballot for the general election. In short-- there is no primary-- the new "primary" is actually the first round of a two-round "general" election! I really wonder why SO MANY IDIOTS in this state couldn't figure that one out!!!!!!!!!
And here's the problem with that.... far from ensuring that we'll have cleaner, fairer politics and politicians getting elected who are closer to the center-- imagine this quite likely scenario: large field in the so-called "primary" election, lots of center candidates and a couple of candidates out to the far left and far right-- now, because all of the center votes are likely to be split every which way, a relatively small BUT united minority on each extreme may very well give their extremist candidates the two largest blocks of voters (even if that's less than 20% each, and a combined total for both extreme candidates of well under 40% of the vote...)-- and then, because of the new system, we'll get a general election where we can choose between the most radical hippie nightmare freak the conservatives can possibly imagine, and the most reactionary so-called conservative ultimate corporation nightmare man the liberals can imagine coming after them.... and because ONLY the top two candidates in round 1 get to be on the ballot for round 2-- those will be all the choices we get in the final round. No matter how few votes it took to get the top two pluralities in the election.
Now, all those of you who voted yes for this proposition, still happy with your decision? Still happy with the way you fucked over ALL OF US, including yourselves? Actually, I don't care what you think... everyone who voted 'yes' on this one has self-identified as someone who is either too careless and ignorant, or just too stupid, to be entrusted with voting EVER AGAIN. Too bad we can't ban you for life, for this decision.
Prop 15: Went down in flames. Apparently the majority of Californians still don't want any kind of public campaign funding. Apparently the majority of Californians don't want to enforce any kind of fairness and balance in campaigns and elections. Apparently the majority of Californians WANT political offices to be "for sale" to the highest bidder-- and yes, kiddies-- just look at Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, and for that matter, Arnie himself-- nominations *AND* general elections CAN BE BOUGHT if you spend enough!
Prop 16: I'm glad this one failed. Sure, I buy the idea that affected populations of voters should be able to vote to decide if they want to allow their local and/or state governments to use public funds, bonds, etc, to develop/support/establish public utilites... but this measure, disingenuously named the "taxpayer's right to vote" act would require a 2/3 majority before ANY action could be taken by local and/or state governments to use public funds, bonds, etc, in pretty much ANY way towards providing utilities and similar services to local populations... and as we've already seen ever since the original prop 13, requiring a 2/3 majority is code for "we'd like it to be theoretically possible (so we don't look like bad guys) but practically impossible (because we want to block any and all such actions) to do anything that the measure would require a 'yes' vote for". Get it yet? This is the utilities company's idea of protecting their monopolies, AT THE TAXPAYER'S EXPENSE, while pretending to be the taxpayer's friend!!!! And yet, it's really scary (to me anyway), that 48+% of the voters in this election actually fell for it!!!!!! What the fuck is wrong with you people?!
Prop 17: didn't seem so bad to me, but it failed anyway. Not so important on the big picture.
Maybe over the next couple of days I'll mellow out and not hold quite such harsh views on our electorate in this gods-forsaken state, but I doubt it. Although, maybe after I get some sleep, I'll find a more polite and eloquent way to express my outrage at some of these election results.
It never ceases to amaze me just how stupid so many of California's voting sheeple are!
Lemme start: okie, another issue labelled Prop 13-- let's not reevalute property tax values after renovating them to fit Earthquake safety codes... okay, I can see why so many selfish pricks in the electorate want to reject ANY POSSIBLE WAY THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE TO ACTUALLY PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE in property taxes-- after all, that's what the original Prop 13 was all about. Shouldn't surprise me-- this is just people voting in their own selfish *SHORT-SIGHTED* vision of their self-interest... and ensuring that the State budget will continue to be screwed every way they can (this admittedly is just a small piece of it). But they'll still be screaming for state benefits for the rich.
Prop 14: Now we get to why I'm pissed off this morning. Prop 14-- no more real primaries... Now, it's everyone gets to vote on every candidate, regardless of party, affiliation, etc, in the so-called primary, and *ONLY* the top two get to be on the ballot for the general election. In short-- there is no primary-- the new "primary" is actually the first round of a two-round "general" election! I really wonder why SO MANY IDIOTS in this state couldn't figure that one out!!!!!!!!!
And here's the problem with that.... far from ensuring that we'll have cleaner, fairer politics and politicians getting elected who are closer to the center-- imagine this quite likely scenario: large field in the so-called "primary" election, lots of center candidates and a couple of candidates out to the far left and far right-- now, because all of the center votes are likely to be split every which way, a relatively small BUT united minority on each extreme may very well give their extremist candidates the two largest blocks of voters (even if that's less than 20% each, and a combined total for both extreme candidates of well under 40% of the vote...)-- and then, because of the new system, we'll get a general election where we can choose between the most radical hippie nightmare freak the conservatives can possibly imagine, and the most reactionary so-called conservative ultimate corporation nightmare man the liberals can imagine coming after them.... and because ONLY the top two candidates in round 1 get to be on the ballot for round 2-- those will be all the choices we get in the final round. No matter how few votes it took to get the top two pluralities in the election.
Now, all those of you who voted yes for this proposition, still happy with your decision? Still happy with the way you fucked over ALL OF US, including yourselves? Actually, I don't care what you think... everyone who voted 'yes' on this one has self-identified as someone who is either too careless and ignorant, or just too stupid, to be entrusted with voting EVER AGAIN. Too bad we can't ban you for life, for this decision.
Prop 15: Went down in flames. Apparently the majority of Californians still don't want any kind of public campaign funding. Apparently the majority of Californians don't want to enforce any kind of fairness and balance in campaigns and elections. Apparently the majority of Californians WANT political offices to be "for sale" to the highest bidder-- and yes, kiddies-- just look at Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, and for that matter, Arnie himself-- nominations *AND* general elections CAN BE BOUGHT if you spend enough!
Prop 16: I'm glad this one failed. Sure, I buy the idea that affected populations of voters should be able to vote to decide if they want to allow their local and/or state governments to use public funds, bonds, etc, to develop/support/establish public utilites... but this measure, disingenuously named the "taxpayer's right to vote" act would require a 2/3 majority before ANY action could be taken by local and/or state governments to use public funds, bonds, etc, in pretty much ANY way towards providing utilities and similar services to local populations... and as we've already seen ever since the original prop 13, requiring a 2/3 majority is code for "we'd like it to be theoretically possible (so we don't look like bad guys) but practically impossible (because we want to block any and all such actions) to do anything that the measure would require a 'yes' vote for". Get it yet? This is the utilities company's idea of protecting their monopolies, AT THE TAXPAYER'S EXPENSE, while pretending to be the taxpayer's friend!!!! And yet, it's really scary (to me anyway), that 48+% of the voters in this election actually fell for it!!!!!! What the fuck is wrong with you people?!
Prop 17: didn't seem so bad to me, but it failed anyway. Not so important on the big picture.
Maybe over the next couple of days I'll mellow out and not hold quite such harsh views on our electorate in this gods-forsaken state, but I doubt it. Although, maybe after I get some sleep, I'll find a more polite and eloquent way to express my outrage at some of these election results.