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It is unfortunate that the SOS committee did not kick off the same time with the Save Our License (Kill SB60) campaign, which was around Sept 03. The latter was able to motivate an angry public to collect in less than three months over 500,000 signatures to qualify a referendum for the March primary. Only 374,000 signatures were required. The SOS initiative did not start until Dec 03, a bad time considering Christmas and all.

As noted above, the main difference is cash. The license campaign had paid petitioners going around gathering signatures. The SOS campaign uses the Internet as their principal tool. They don't have any paid staff, they're all volunteers, so they rely on as many people as possible downloading the petition and giving it out to others. If only they had the necessary paperwork by Sept, the paid petitioners for the license campaign could have asked for signatures for SOS at the same time. It is logical to assume that the signers would sign both petitions, since SOS actually affects their wallets more than the license campaign. Maybe, this is why the SOS committee assumed that collecting signatures for their campaign would be easier.

At this point, we can just try to spread the word amongst our relatives and friends via e-mail and hope for the best. Perhaps, an attached personal letter stating that illegal aliens cost several billions of dollars a year would help. Tell them that California is not out of the woods yet. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, and verifiable in other news sources:

"Even with the $15 billion bond issue, California is heading for a $7 billion deficit in 2005-06, according to state Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill."

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~1992997,00.html

Of course, illegal immigration is not the only reason for the enormous budget deficit. But it certainly plays a big part in it. I'm sure most clear-thinking Californians realize that the budget deficit can only be solved by cuts in social services or increased taxes.

Customize your e-mails. Try to appeal to their emotions and how it would affect them financially in a personal manner. Tell them that if the Save Our State Initiative fails, Californians only have themselves to blame when their taxes, tuition, and healthcare costs go up. After all, money to finance the state budget does not grow on trees.

If they are working, tell them that their incomes are likely to be taxed higher.

If they are students, tell them that their fees are likely to go up, or they might not even get into the UC system, while illegal aliens attend the university.

References: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/02/27/MNGFF593II51.DTL
http://www.ucsdguardian.org/cgi-bin/news?art=2002_01_24_02
http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=207110

If they are older and/or more likely to require health services, tell them that their insurance premiums and co-payments are likely to go higher, while at the same time their benefits less generous.

Reference: http://www.fairus.org/news/NewsPrint.cfm?ID=2379&c=55

I went into the following website categories mining for e-mail contacts and then wrote them short infomercials with regards to the SOS initiative:

- college Republican websites for student leader contacts;
- Republican organizations for conservative-leaning contacts;
- conservative talk-show and newspaper websites for media exposure contacts.

I'm sure many Democrats feel strongly about this issue too, but I'm going under the assumption that a higher percentage of Republicans are supportive of this measure, and will not sabotage the signature-gathering effort. They can always forward the e-mail to their Democrat friends who support the measure.

If you are wondering why I am so passionate about this issue, it is because I work two jobs right now, and I hate my second part-time job. However, it is necessary to pay the bills. I can just see how much more miserable I will be when they raise my taxes, because the state budget numbers do not add up (surprise, surprise!).

There is a silver lining in the clouds. Perhaps, the added mental stress will kill me, and those bloodsuckers in Sacramento won't get a single dime out of me anymore! Of course, with my luck, I'll probably only get a stroke and end up half-paralyzed, my health insurance will run out and I will be unable to afford expenses, and I will end up spending the rest of my days in a wheelchair drooling with no nurse or aide in sight because I'm in a bankrupt government healthcare center, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!