The California Republican Party is DEAD. As of this writing, even Orange County no longer has a single Republican in the state House of Representatives, (aka "The California State Assembly")
Voters handed the Democrats another SUPERMAJORITY.
So, if you're looking to point fingers at primary political failures, you can start by pointing at California Republicans, who pissed off even hardcore Orange County conservatives to the point where many of them wouldn't even bother to vote this time.
And for you to sit there and deny that Trump's threats to withhold federal funding "isn't making this political" is so far off the scale absurd it would be funny, if not for the charred corpses smoldering in the background.
Nonstop screeching about "trains to nowhere" and complaints about gas taxes didn't impress voters, who signaled their support for the 2017 gas tax hike, perhaps for one simple reason. We want our transportation infrastructure to function properly, and we want it to achieve goals that will position us as ready for the future, a future which includes high speed rail, autonomous and electric vehicles, better roads and freeways, and better urban rail systems and public transportation that supports it.
Nobody likes paying more, but if you're getting something for it, it hurts less.
Nobody likes paying higher prices for gasoline, but if you get incentives for buying fuel efficient vehicles, it hurts less.
Frankly, it's not a good thing for California to have a near permanent Democratic supermajority. We'll get a chance to rack up some stunning accomplishments but of course such a concentration of unchallenged power is also likely to generate some rather loathsome side effects.
It's not that power corrupts, it's that power acts as a magnet for the very worst corruptible people.
California needs a well organized loyal and conservative opposition.
The problem is, such a thing does not exist right now in The Golden State.
To paraphrase Digby Parton, the "party has already shrunk to a rump faction of racist wingnuts, just like everywhere else in the country."
And now, it apparently also consists of people who celebrate a president who scorns the efforts of California's firefighters.
The California Republican Party is DEAD. As of this writing, even Orange County no longer has a single Republican in the state House of Representatives, (aka "The California State Assembly")
Voters handed the Democrats another SUPERMAJORITY.
So, if you're looking to point fingers at primary political failures, you can start by pointing at California Republicans, who pissed off even hardcore Orange County conservatives to the point where many of them wouldn't even bother to vote this time.
And for you to sit there and deny that Trump's threats to withhold federal funding "isn't making this political" is so far off the scale absurd it would be funny, if not for the charred corpses smoldering in the background.
Nonstop screeching about "trains to nowhere" and complaints about gas taxes didn't impress voters, who signaled their support for the 2017 gas tax hike, perhaps for one simple reason. We want our transportation infrastructure to function properly, and we want it to achieve goals that will position us as ready for the future, a future which includes high speed rail, autonomous and electric vehicles, better roads and freeways, and better urban rail systems and public transportation that supports it.
Nobody likes paying more, but if you're getting something for it, it hurts less.
Nobody likes paying higher prices for gasoline, but if you get incentives for buying fuel efficient vehicles, it hurts less.
Frankly, it's not a good thing for California to have a near permanent Democratic supermajority. We'll get a chance to rack up some stunning accomplishments but of course such a concentration of unchallenged power is also likely to generate some rather loathsome side effects.
It's not that power corrupts, it's that power acts as a magnet for the very worst corruptible people.
California needs a well organized loyal and conservative opposition.
The problem is, such a thing does not exist right now in The Golden State.
To paraphrase Digby Parton, the "party has already shrunk to a rump faction of racist wingnuts, just like everywhere else in the country."
And now, it apparently also consists of people who celebrate a president who scorns the efforts of California's firefighters.
