The Democrats have done some good things in this state, admittedly. However, they are overtaxing common people with consumption and gas tax, and are overt-taxing and over-regulating business...and they continue to add more and more taxes and more regulations every year. They are forcing idiotic things upon people like making them put solar panels on newly-built homes, or "affordable housing" in new building projects which just dries up investment and keeps the building of new units down and property prices and rental prices high. And they are encouraging criminal industry, because many of these lenders and loan brokers for solar panels, windows and water systems are absolute total crooks. And finally, and worst of all, most Democrats seem to take pride in the fact that they do not punish "non-violent" criminal offenders. Our cities are rife with unpunished property crime. Unless you rape, beat, or kill someone, robbers, burglars, and car thieves are rarely likely to see more than a year in jail or prison. All in the name of ending "mass incarceration" as though it is somehow a problem to keep repeat-offending criminals off our streets.
These are problems that the California Democratic Party have no answers for, and are indeed largely the cause of, and that Republican candidates can and should tackle.
I agree that the "new kindness" to non-violent offenders is actually "the new cruelty" but take into consideration the fact that this state, like so many others, farmed out corrections to the new private prison industry, and reduced its own state operated carrying capacity.
And now that we've given private corrections the heave ho, there's an even bigger deficit, which WILL have to be made up.
It IS a problem keeping repeat offenders off the streets!
It's a problem because thirty years ago folks on the Right wanted to privatize corrections.
After the state got sued about fifty or sixty times for not keeping the beds filled, we got sick of being hoodwinked by CCA and Wackenhut.
Now we need to build more state operated facilities again, to make up for the shortfall.
Where solar is concerned, take your pick. Do you WANT more centralized utilities, with their dangerous overhead HV lines and the inherent fire risks or would you prefer more decentralized residential energy production that takes some of the demand off the central utilities?
If the latter, then we're going to NEED solar. Are some of the brokers and contractors crooks? How is THAT the fault of the state?
The state didn't put them up to being crooks and the state can and should go after crooks. Reward the honest brokers and contractors and punish the crooked ones. Do you actually think that these contractors are all good guys everywhere else?
California is not "encouraging criminal industry", that is as preposterous as saying that because people drive drunk that the state is encouraging drunk drivers.
News flash! Crooked contractor exist everywhere on Earth!
Requiring solar on new construction is a good thing, sorry.
All in all, if we can get to a place where conservatives are just conservative and not engaging in war games against liberals, maybe we can arrive at a place where the two sides get back to doing what they are supposed to, hammering out reasonable and cooperative solutions.
I agree with anyone who says that giving one side all the power is a bad idea, because anytime one side HAS all the power, it goes to their heads.
But listen to the way most California Republicans talk right here on DP.
They don't want solutions, they want war!
And until that stops, they will not GET the numbers they need.
Felis, I'm sorry, but it is clear that the reason they lost power in the first place is because Californians got sick of their ****.
Not saying that the result or outcome was ideal, I'm saying the result was provoked by what we saw happen in the preceding two decades.