No on 98: Remember on June 3

[substitute]

CALIFORNIANS:

If you're a renter, or you might be one, or you know and like people who rent, you should vote against Proposition 98 next Tuesday, June 3.

gordonzola has done a fine job of explaining why at this post and previously at this other post. I'll summarize here with cut and paste bits from his post:

State Proposition 98 on the June 3 ballot will

Comments

[superlaundrette]

i plan to VOTE NO ON EVERYTHING. the initiative system is total garbage....

[substitute]

Yes. I do not tire of telling people how that system broke california and then the whole country: http://substitute.livejournal.com/743364.html

[superlaundrette]

wow. that was a great post. i wasn't aware of the background behind it, but it makes a lot of sense. it explains (and makes me feel better about) me breaking my "no to everything" vow a few years ago to support a local measure that would raise local sales tax to keep the SLO City/County Library afloat as well as keep my job there. no surprise, it didn't pass and i lost my job. yikes, and still i am considering a career in library and information science, perhaps that is not so wise...

i wonder if we can get an initiative passed that rids CA of the initiative system.

[gmccarga]

Well, at the risk of sounding like Charlton Heston, the problem isn't the guns killing democracy, it's the triggermen. The initiative process has always been a way to air legitimate issues, as well as being a forum for wingnuts and snake-oil salesmen. When women got the vote in Montana, Oregon and California, at least, it was by initiative, not by an act of enlightened legislators. The Progressives took that ball and ran with it for almost two generations, and they got a lot of good stuff done.

I think the real problem is that we've lost our Jeanette Rankins, and Bob la Follettes, and oozing in to take their place, wankers like Howard Jarvis. The reactionaries, opportunists, and realtors are a hell of a lot better organized now, the way the Progressives used to be.

[gordonzola]

yes. absolutely with you on the triggermen. I think one thing not envisioned was the designed-to-confuse wording trend and that of being able to pay folks to collect sigs. The Progressives never thought that the Right would be able to bank on confusing "the masses" and there being no left counterweight.

[gmccarga]

Yes and Yes.

At least here in Oregon, one of the continual scandals (fill in the blanks depending on the year) is signatures. Who's gathered them, which paid signature gathering organization is the most brazenly corrupt this year, etc, etc.

That shit, at least, should be legislatively fixed by now. I'm all in favor of just banning paid signature gatherers entirely, and see how fast the hard right "grass roots" movements wither. If there's one arena where the lefties still seem to have an edge, it's achingly-earnest well-scrubbed young people circulating petitions.

We'll see.

Good luck to y'all tomorrow.