PROP 89-- THE BIG ENCHILADA OF THE CALIFORNIA ELECTION

I hope Democrats sweep Republicans out of every seat in the country. And in my own state, California, I'm especially excited about the prospects of Charlie Brown, David Roth, Jerry McNerney and Robert Rodriguez beating 4 extreme right-- and extremely corrupt-- rubber stamp congressmen: John Doolittle, Mary Bono, Dirty Dick Pombo and Buck McKeon. In the past I've written about what an infinitely better governor Phil Angelides would be than GOP patsy Schwarzenegger and how absolutely crucial it is for the sake of democracy itself that we elect Debra Bowen Secretary of State.

But to me there is no single race as crucial as the battle to pass Proposition 89, a huge first step towards cleaning up politics in this state and taking it out of the hands of wealthy special interests. Joe Trippi sent me an ad today that was done by the brilliant filmmaker Bill Hillsman. I haven't seen it on TV. The big money interests that normally finance this kind of thing are certainly not going to finance this!



Another friend of mine, Bob Brigham has been blogging his fingers to the bone about this crucial vote that could change the course of politics in the whole country-- and very much for the better.


WEDNESDAY UPDATE: TAKE AWAY THEIR MONEY

We’re told if there’s a lousy TV show on, you can always change the channel. If you don’t like what you’re watching, watch something else.
 
The truth is, at this time of an election year, you can’t-- especially in California.
 
The proliferation of insipid, annoying political ads, tunes people away from the ballot box even more than insipid, annoying candidates. Politicians, political parties, their lobbyists and special interest groups who stand to benefit from low voter turnout do not hesitate to run exactly the kind of political ads they know voters hate the most. If the noise level of these annoyances gets high enough, they know, the reasonable response from any rational mammal is to declare a pox on both their houses, and just stay home.
 
As a wise little old lady once said, "I never vote. It only encourages them."
 
So what’s the proper response when political parties, politicians and rich special interest groups attempt to blatantly reduce citizen participation in our participative democracy?
 
Or to put it a different way-– how can we get even for the pain they’re foisting upon them?
 
Here’s a simple solution: torture them. And how, you may ask, can you elicit pain from unfeeling entities like political parties and politicians?
 
Simple answer: Take away their money. Take away their money, and our pain goes away. Take away their money, and voter participation goes up.
 
The California Nurses Association realizes this and is fighting back. Proposition 89 would put a stop to this by setting tough limits on campaign contributions and fighting the influence of money in California politics.

Bill Hillsman