California has only one working political Party—the Democrats. The California GOP is an Internet fund raising operation for the benefit of a few. If you want to affect policy change either be a Democrat or move to a Free State. Dr. Colman says we have a death wish. His tense is wrong. We had a death wish—and we died, by suicide. We voted for a One Party Sate. We continue to vote for legislators who call us racist, believe a boy could be a girl, just by having a “feeling”, raise our taxes—allow us to choose to kill a baby, but not choose the car or education we want.
A DEATH WISH
By Richard Colman, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 5/19/23
Both major American political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, have a death wish.
A political death wish originates because of policies that are too extreme.
To win elections, political parties have to remain close to the political center.
The center can move. When Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980 and 1984, the center moved to the right. In the 1964 presidential election, when President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, ran against Senator Barry Goldwater, a Republican, the center moved left.
Since the year 2000, the Republicans have won the presidential popular vote only once –- in 2004. In 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020, the Democrats won the presidential popular vote.
The Republicans need to appeal to moderate voters. On such issues as inflation, crime, and immigration, the Republicans are closer to the political center than the Democrats.
On immigration, Republicans should call for four criteria to become an American citizen. The four criteria are:
(1) No immigrant can have a criminal record.
(2) No immigrant can be involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs.
(3) An immigrant must have a job.
(4) An immigrant must be proficient in the use of English.
But Republicans need to do more. They need to cut federal spending and support a balanced federal budget.
The main Republican weakness is on social issues, especially on such issues as abortion and the banning of certain books used in public schools.
Republican candidates like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis come across as mean and repressive. On issues like same-sex marriage, Republicans need to call for the government to stay out of what goes on between consenting adults.
Recently, DeSantis wanted to have the government of Florida control the content of material put out over the internet. However, a coalition of conservatives, moderates, and liberals in the Florida state legislature killed this plan.
As for the Washington, D.C. Capitol Hill riot of Jan. 6, 2021, Republicans ought to support trials and penalties for individuals who destroyed property and lives.
The Republican idea of a smaller, less intrusive government is reasonable. Republican presidential candidates ought to be supporting this idea.
The Democrats pander to special interests. Why do so many Democrats support DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion)? Jobs and university admissions out to be given out on the basis of merit.
Did June 19th, sometimes called Juneteenth, have to become a federal holiday? Democrats had an alternative: establishing a monument to celebrate the announcement that slavery had ended in a Southern state. A monument, if properly constructed, can become a tourist attraction.
With a June 19th holiday, there can be screaming media commercials that say: “Come on down and buy a new car. We are dealing like never before.”
Memories of visiting a monument are stronger than any memories associated with a holiday. Anyone who has ever visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. will not forget the experience. On one wall, Lincoln’s Gettysburg is inscribed. Like the language in the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address is a rhetorical masterpiece.
Also, some Democrats are supporting reparations, the giving out of government money to descendants of slavery. Reparations would be extremely difficult to administer. Democrats, rather than looking back to a period over 150 years ago, might do better with voters by offering scholarships — to low-income people — for vocational or university-level education.
Another issue for Democrats is making Washington, D.C. a state. The District of Columbia already has home rule. If the District were to become a state, there would be overlapping jurisdictions between what a state government can do and what the federal government can do. For example, who would control the schools and the police?
Democrats need to remember that they will win elections by being centrists.
Right now, too many Democrats support the ideas of Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Congresswoman Alexandria Occasio-Cortez (D-New York). Both politicians are so-called progressives. (Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist.)
During the presidencies of Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton, America politics stayed close to the center. With Ronald Reagan, there was conservative language coupled with a willingness to compromise. In 1981, Reagan signed a huge tax cut. Almost no one remembers that, in 1982, Reagan signed what, at the time, was the biggest tax increase in American history.
Reagan signed the legislation making Martin Luther King’s birthday a federal holiday. King’s birthday did not become loaded with media commercials. The holiday has remained, since its inception, a day for reflection and remembrance.
Democrats often accuse Republicans of wanting to destroy Social Security and Medicare. Both programs are approaching bankruptcy. Republicans ought to be say that they want to preserve Social Security and Medicare by favoring reforms that would keep both programs financially intact.
Despite the current political death wish, there is hope for the future.
One should ask himself or herself why masses of people do not want to become citizens of North Korea, China, Russia, and other dictatorships?
America is a great country. In fact, America is the world’s greatest country. If America were so bad, why do so many people outside the United States want to become American citizens?
All Americans have constitutional guarantees of freedom of worship, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom to gather peacefully to protest.
Let’s not change these guarantees.
The current death wish will pass. Too many Americans want the balance of power among the three branches of government –- legislative, executive, and judicial — to remain. Americans will not tolerate the concentration of power in one branch or in one individual.
