Cheat Sheet

i was absolutely convinced cal's problem was one party rule but then i look at the gub choices and wonder if there is anything beyond blind luck that might save the state.

I do think Cali is a feeding ground for progressive policy. I also think there has been no one big enough to exert counter pressure and the state has gone rogue, no cohesive financial policy for some time It's OK while there is money but when the revenues dried up and energy cost rose, housing busted and all the other things that have happened to all other cities, Cali learns progressive only goes so far. It's also the adage the bigger they are the harder they fall. The deeper in debt, the worse the budget fallout. It remains to be seen if they swing more conservative to solve their problems or stay progressive and hope the economy will pull them out, sooner or later. Either way they dug a hole and nothing will improve overnight.

As a rare native Californian I have lived through all the modern booms and the busts. In hindsight one cannot help but notice that both events involve greed. The state is immensely rich in resources natural and man-made yet our appetites go unfulfilled to the point we don't even trust ourselves not to eat ourselves out of house and home. How did we solve that? With a budget disabling proposition requirement that defies true management. For the moment we are hamstrung with this electoral process and we need to elect someone that can be trusted and possess the ability to run the state as his true goal and not merely as a launch pad to national, read presidential, office. In my humble opinion, that reduces the field substantially. Newsom-Gone and good riddance. Whitman-Gone. Poizner-Hmm. Brown-Double Hmm. Villaraigosa-Shades of Sanford-Gone. Feinstein-Hmm. Boxer-?

After the election we need to divide the state into Northern and Southern California. Please research and write a follow up article on this matter. It deserves national exposure.

Jus1drun, look at this: http://images.newsmax.com/misc/2008_Election_Map.jpg

California is a microcosm of what will eventually happen to the entire US if spending is not brought under control. Through decades of pandering to minority special interests, illegal residents, Hollywood, etc. they now are figuring out they cannot fix the problem without some serious financial blood letting. Sorry for you California, your heady days of spending like there is no tomorrow are over and now you are faced with taxing the legs out off your residents or, like Michigan, "big business". America, this scenario is coming to you real soon.

As a progressive my choice is our Senator Diane "really dangerous in the Senate" Feinstein.

California is governed by the stupid idiotic methods making the job of the so called chief of State almost useless as well as meaningless to the people of the State. (A perfect place for this old two timing woman to be where she can't cause us any problems)

California needs to first be honest as to where all this money is going & why it can't keep up with revenues verses money being spent. The answer to this question is simply "ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION"... The people coming in cost Ca. billions of dollars long before they begin to help it's economy. Education in all of the State is being smothered by over half of it's students not being able to read & write the English Language. The State spends hundreds of millions on by-lingual education that has been proven over & over not to work but has stayed in force because of greedy people who are afraid they will not be re-elected if they oppose it. Add to that hundreds of millions more on roads, sewers, electrical systems & Medi-Cal where 85% of all babies born in the State are from illegals who are given free OB care.More than 80% of all medical care inn the State as well as 85% of unpaid hospital & doctor bills are form these same people...Hundreds of millions of dollars going to people that should not be here & who are draining the States money. 2,000,000.00 people who are here in the State & not yet productive to it's tax base & you now have the $25,000,000,000.00 short fall in the budget.

I am NOT suggesting these 2,000,000.00 plus people be deported, I am suggesting the State needs to get the dollars needed to deal with them from either the Fed's or by suing the Nations these people are form & collecting those dollars in cash or by not allowing their goods to be sold in the State unless they pay for their own.

Until the State is able to collect the money needed to support these people they will NEVER be in a position to support themselves, period the end.....

Ca could be forced into de jure bankruptcy by the feds or creditors. That could mean that Ca will be reorganized by the feds & that the feds, not the gov, legislature & denizens of Ca will run Ca. The position of Ca's gov could be abolished during Ca's reorganization by a bankruptcy court. This situation is getting stranger each day.
No thanks, I don't want another toke on your blunt.

California is an example of "feel good intentions" decision making. That same political disease is in Washington DC. Feel good decisions instead of tough choices. No amount of taxes can ever pay for that.

The question is.. who'd want the job?

The unfortunate circumstance for our state is that it is a modern launch point for likely presidential candidates. That is why I opine CA residents to keep that in mind when voting in the next election. Our problem(s) will require due diligence for 2 terms and some risk taking that might hinder national prominence. So Jerry Brown's statement that it's a career ending job may hold true.

The illegal immigration problem will probably be used as a positive aspect, yeah I said it, for a couple of the contenders. I predict they will offer up an amnesty program as a platform plank. This will carry much weight with the large contingency of Hispanic voters. This is another reason I support a North and South division of the state. I agree about the water thing but don't forget that issue is an agricultural thing and it touches upon illegal alien issues. As far as defining the state as red or blue. I think that Californians might vote their logic rather than their party if survival requires it.

The "job" is as much of a challenge as walking into the oval office in many ways. For a person to be successful He/She must gather an elite cabinet with creative traits and risk-taking mentality. Silicon Valley alone is replete with these type of individuals. It's going to take one hell of a sales job though. I just hope that the next Governor is a visionary and can assemble the right chords to appeal to such a group of civic minded entrepreneurs.

No matter who is in office...

CALIFORNIA IS ALWAYS SCREWED!

Decades of mis-management, over spending... it won't be fixed!

A lesson learned? it remains to be seen California lost an estimated 60,000 plus millionaires to their taxing structure and social engineering policies, just a matter of time before the collapse begins.
As California goes, so goes our nation.
Who knows? in the end this could be good for our once great nation, to learn to get our spending under control..