Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Stan Katten, a former RAND Corp. analyst and a San Pedro, California resident, wrote an interesting article about the real losers in the November 8th special elections (emphasis added):

People, not governor, are real losers in special election

Immediately following the Nov. 8 special election, several editorials and opinion columns said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the big loser because all four propositions he supported were soundly defeated. Wrong! The big losers were all the people of California.

Why, given all the political mistakes Schwarzenegger allegedly made, including calling for the special election in the first place? Well, we elected a non-politician to be governor, didn’t we? Weren’t we fed up with career politicians who made most decisions to retain their offices rather than for the benefit of the people? Then, like the maverick, unpredictable, gullible voters we are, we failed to give the governor the tools he needed to do our work.

So aren’t the majority who voted for the dysfunctional status quo, and thus all of us, the big losers?

Katten concludes who the actual losers were:

Don’t capitulate to Democrats

Where do we go from here? The governor said he recently had a very good meeting with the legislative leaders, who said they sought to solve the state’s problems in concert with the governor because they thought that was what the people wanted. (They didn’t want this earlier in the year?)

Let’s fervently hope so, but compromise with the Democrats heretofore has meant “do it our way,” and their way means bankruptcy or higher taxes, already among the highest in the nation, or huge bond issues, which are higher taxes in disguise, paying $2 for every $1 spent.

No, the governor wasn’t the big loser, and the unions weren’t the big winner. All the people of California were the big losers, and the election likely was only the beginning of their losses.

Read the whole article in the Daily Breeze.