Posted on 01/13/2007 2:45:11 PM PST by calcowgirl
Things are goofy in California. I mean, goofier than usual.
Republicans are afraid they've lost influence with the governor, which wouldn't be so strange if the governor wasn't also a Republican.
What's even stranger is that -- in a true blue state such as California, where Democrats control the Legislature and most of the top offices in the executive branch -- Republicans haven't figured out most Californians no longer care what they think, and this includes the chief executive from their own party.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in for a second term on Jan. 5 after coasting to re-election.
Now, Republicans are pleading with Schwarzenegger to pursue a more conservative agenda -- even if he has no chance of getting any of it through the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
These are folks who see the value in fighting the good fight, even if they go down swinging in the first round, as they often do.
Instead, Schwarzenegger is fighting for a compassionate but controversial plan to provide health insurance for 6.5 million uninsured Californians, including illegal immigrants. He insists that, under the current system, the uninsured levy a hidden tax on everyone.
Faced with an otherwise gloomy future, the state Republican party has one bright star -- Schwarzenegger. So, naturally, the instinct among Republican ideologues is to try to drag him into the darkness with the rest of their cohorts.
Luckily, having beaten his Democratic opponent by 17 points, he is much too smart to fall for it. Just as you'd expect from someone who came to this country with empty pockets, worked hard, bought into the American dream and amassed a fortune of several hundred million dollars.
In a stirring inaugural address, Schwarzenegger made clear he's his own man, and he believes the future of American politics is right smack in the center.
"Centrist does not mean weak," he said. "It does not mean watered down or warmed over. It means well balanced and well grounded. The American people are instinctively centrist. So should be our government."
Schwarzenegger's brand of centrism means two things -- shunning extremes in search of common-sense, middle-of-the-road solutions to difficult problems and reaching out across the political divide to incorporate the best ideas your opponents have to offer while giving them credit in the process.
We desperately need more of both, not just in California but all around the United States.
If you want to know why our politics are broken in this country, this is the reason. We've reached the point where so much of the debate is all or nothing and dominated by the shrillest and most extreme voices, where people are afraid to acknowledge the other side is even half-right and where being a moderate is considered the equivalent of being squishy or indecisive.
Meanwhile, political parties aren't interested in results or solutions, as much as expanding their reach and enhancing their fundraising by taking potshots at the opposition -- even on those days when there is no real disagreement.
That doesn't make much sense, not when -- on abortion, gun control, stem cell research, immigration, the death penalty and a host of other issues -- most Americans have mixed feelings.
And not when it's the case that no single politician or political party is right on every issue.
Straight-ticket voting is a thing of the past, and the future lies in the kind of cafeteria politics that allows voters to pick and choose what they like from what the parties have to offer and discard the rest.
That's what Schwarzenegger is talking about. Still a relative novice at politics, he hasn't had time to learn bad habits that hamper most career politicians.
In his inaugural speech, he spelled out a vision of "post-partisanship" that searches out a "creative center that is not held captive of the left or the right or even the past."
The California governor is onto something, and he knows it.
He's even thinking about taking his centrist message on the road, say his aides. He might drop into New Hampshire and Iowa during the 2008 primaries to try to convince presidential candidates the middle of the road isn't a bad place to be.
Bravo for him.
Who knows? Maybe he can convince a few of them to join him there. Our politics would be better off.
Navarrette is a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune. His e-mail address is ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.
That's because he is being led around by the nose by his dimwit wife.
Anything from Navarette should come with a Barf Alert. He doesn't get it.
Navarette hits a home run with this article. No one cares about the jackasses who shriek "Rino" everytime they don't get their purity test met.
ROFL!
Opposing socialization of healthcare is "purity"?
Opposing taxpayer subsidies for Al Gore's global warming nonsense is "purity"?
Opposing bigger and bigger government is "purity"?
Supporting the constitution, including the right to bear arms and private property rights, is "purity"?
Whew! Who knew?
"There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil."
"The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles."
AYN RAND
Oppoaing taxpayer-supported health care for illegal aliens is "purity"?
And don't forget opposing needless, worthless, un-Constitutional RINO GUN-GRABBING (arnold's .50 cal grab).
I tried to cover that under the "constitution" and "the right to bear arms."
I figured MovementConservative would get the idea... but then again, maybe not. ;-)
Apparently opposing any betrayal of conservative principles by Arnold is "purity".
You're a foul-mouthed nit, aren't ya? Wouldn't you be more at home at DU?
When folks snap out of post partisan depression and battered Republican syndrome (or action hero worship),
we may have a real conservative movement.
Until then, the Farabutto brothers will still be considered great tailors. ;-)
“We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all.” --Ronald Reagan, 1965
Navarette says that taxpayers are taxed for illegal alien health care. The real front in this battle keeping the illegals out, and booting out the ones who are here. No illegals = no citizens being taxed to pay for them.
Name them!
Billions in unconstitutional borrowing? Record growth in Government? Minimum wage hikes? Global warming regulation? Prescription drug programs? Taxation for illegal alien healthcare? $3 billion in rate increases to subsidize solar roofs? A 25 million acre land-grab? More gun regulation? $3 billion for embryonic stem-cell research? Liberal judicial appointments? A couple vetos of GLBT legislation while signing a dozen pro-homosexual bills? Please do tell me about all those "important victories" we've won.
While you're at it, why don't you tell me which part of the Republican platform you actually do support As all of the things I listed above, as promoted by the Conciliator are clearly contrary to the very principles of conservatism and the Republican platform. "Shared Responsiblity" for healthcare isn't any better of an idea today than when Karl Marx uttered the same mantra.
Just tired of people violating Reagan's 11th commandment.
Wouldn't you be more at home at DU?
Those guys over there are even more vaccuos than some of the fools who run around FR calling every Republican a RINO. Fortunately there are enough of us who are tired of the nonsense and want to get back to advancing conservative principles, even if it means taking 90% instead of 100%. Outside of Hastert's nutty earmark spending, GW Bush has been a great president. Now we get nothing because we are busy trashing our own instead of trashing the Democrats.
Well, he vetoed the Democrat's universal health care for illegal aliens plan...
...shortly before he unveiled his own universal health care for illegal aliens plan.
They're just SWARMING FR!!! Somebody turn on the bright lights so they'll run back under the baseboards!!!
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