The Democrats own the legislature and the Constitutional offices. On a statewide basis ballot measures are being used to promote the conservative agenda—and the Progressives are doing the same with their agenda. That is why the Democrats used the courts to stop a people’s movement to cut taxes and provide presentation of easy tax increases.
“TPGAA would have put the tax- and fee-increase reins in voter hands, as summarized by the Wall Street Journal: “The initiative would require a majority of voters to approve taxes adopted by the Legislature. Both the Legislature and voters would have to approve regulatory action that increases state revenue. Charges for specific government services or products like fishing licenses would have to reflect the actual cost of providing the service or product. The initiative would also raise the threshold for localities to pass all special taxes to two-thirds.”
When the initiative qualified to be placed on the ballot this November, what did Governor Newsom, the man who supposedly represents all 40 million Californians, do? He sued to get it removed from the ballot, and a hyper-partisan California court sided with the Governor and removed the measure. The Governor and Legislature can’t let anything disrupt their endless taxing and spending. The people won’t even have a chance to tighten the reins on government growth. So much for democracy.”
More proof that Democrats are an existential danger to Democracy.
TED GAINES: Ballot initiatives become pawns in Democrat schemes
By TED GAINES, Bakersfield.com, 8/5/24 https://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/community-voices/ted-gaines-ballot-initiatives-become-pawns-in-democrat-schemes/article_55e62aac-50f6-11ef-86e6-13220b1addf0.html
The shocking national political events have rightfully dominated the news of the past few weeks. But in relative obscurity, governments everywhere are still working, and the California political establishment has been busy waging a war of deception and disempowerment against our citizens. This time, they’re targeting the ballot initiative process, an important form of direct democracy.
First is the death of the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, a voter-rights initiative aimed at putting the brakes on runaway taxes and fees plaguing our famously expensive state.
TPGAA would have put the tax- and fee-increase reins in voter hands, as summarized by the Wall Street Journal: “The initiative would require a majority of voters to approve taxes adopted by the Legislature. Both the Legislature and voters would have to approve regulatory action that increases state revenue. Charges for specific government services or products like fishing licenses would have to reflect the actual cost of providing the service or product. The initiative would also raise the threshold for localities to pass all special taxes to two-thirds.”
When the initiative qualified to be placed on the ballot this November, what did Governor Newsom, the man who supposedly represents all 40 million Californians, do? He sued to get it removed from the ballot, and a hyper-partisan California court sided with the Governor and removed the measure. The Governor and Legislature can’t let anything disrupt their endless taxing and spending. The people won’t even have a chance to tighten the reins on government growth. So much for democracy.
Next up are two cynical, pro-crime smokescreens floated by the Legislature and Governor Newsom to cloud the result of an actual tough-on-crime initiative on the November ballot.
The initiative, Proposition 36, would undo some of the infamous Proposition 47, which essentially legalized shoplifting under $950 and gave blessing to open-air drug markets, turning California into a criminals’ paradise and pushing retailers to the brink.
Proposition 36 will put some teeth back into the criminal justice system, protect businesses and families, punish criminals for a change, and mend the social fabric weakened by rampant crime and drug-den takeovers of our public spaces.
But the California Legislature is sadly and shockingly pro-criminal. To them, “the system” is always the problem, never the people who are filling up shopping carts and walking out of stores in broad daylight, with no fear of punishment.
So, they sprang into action by drafting a package of bills that sounded tough-on-crime but included “poison pills,” meaning the bills would be voided if Proposition 36 passed. Voters reading the ballot summary for Proposition 36 could have been confused, thinking they were weakening law enforcement by voting for the measure.
Thankfully, this shameful deceit eventually collapsed under a massive outcry by law enforcement and a public weary of crime.
After the bills failed, Governor Newsom floated another initiative to compete with Proposition 36, again to soften and undermine the commonsense changes found in the people’s initiative. That last-minute effort cratered as well because even legislative Democrats refused to support a competing proposition to Proposition 36, leaving the people with an honest chance to change the course of the state this coming November.
Sacramento Democrats also understand that having Proposition 36 on the ballot hurts their chances in November. Their efforts to thwart the reforms in the initiative are as much political as they are philosophical.
Instead of obsessive politicking, the Democrats should look at their own policies and try to understand why a measure that punishes criminals, creates safe neighborhoods and businesses, and closes drug markets is considered an electoral threat to them.
The capitol is the people’s building, not a walled fortress to protect incumbents and special interests, and voters are not an inconvenience to be shooed away by the courts or by trickery.
Despite the worst efforts of Sacramento Democrats, the people still have a chance to support Proposition 36 in November and build a brighter future for our state.
Retired Sen. Ted Gaines was elected to represent the Board of Equalization’s First District. He is a leading taxpayer advocate, defender of Proposition 13, and is committed to providing trustworthy and transparent representation for nearly 10 million constituents in 34 counties of northern, eastern and southern California. Visit boe.ca.gov/Gaines.
The Democrats own the State and Newsom, as head Democrat controls the courts. Rank and file Californians may someday wake up to the fact that they abdicated all their authority to the state. Hopefully they will wake up before wakening up is outlawed.