The Republicans in Washington have cooked up a plan to undermine California's progressive character--what they did to our economy with Enron they'll do to our democracy with this special election.
Their attack has two parts: a mid-term redistriciting plan cooked up by Karl Rove and Tom DeLay, that could result in 5 more Republican congresspeople, perhaps I should say Congressmen, elected in 2006; this is coupled with a 'paycheck deception' plan to make it harder for union members, including our nurses, to participate in policy and political debates. The upshot? More power for corporate donors.
Two chilling articles on this assualt this morning.
John Wildermuth in the SF Chronicle reports that Republican Secretary of State Bruce McPherson hopes to have the re-districting done for the 2006 races. He reports:
Despite concerns about the tight timing, California's political map could be redrawn in time for the June 2006 election, if Proposition 77 passes in November, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said Monday.
It's a tough criterion, "but I think the lines could be in place for next year,'' he said during an informal news conference.
Andy Furillo in the Sacramento Bee takes a look at the frontman for the anti-union paycheck deception scheme, Prop. 75. I'm not kidding, he's a McCarthyite John Bircher. When did that become mainstream? Read about it here:
"{Prop. 75 proponent Lew} Uhler said he spent six months in the John Birch Society after being recruited into the organization in the early 1960s by Rousselot, his old boss. Uhler said he joined the group, which was ardently anti-Communist and opposed to U.S. membership in the United Nations, to try to educate the group's members "on the constitutional framework of our nation." But when they didn't seem interested in the concept, he quit.
At Yale in the early 1950s, one of Uhler's closest associates was author and journalist M. Stanton Evans. According to Uhler, Evans is now finishing up a book that "I think has confirmed that Joe McCarthy was on target" in exposing the alleged Communist infiltration of American government and society. McCarthy, of course, was the Wisconsin senator in the 1950s who was later censured by the U.S. Senate. But in spite of a past that includes the brief membership in the John Birch Society...and his endorsement of the McCarthy approach, Uhler brushed off accusations that he is an extremist.
Funny you claim that the redistricting initiative could add as many as five more Republicans to congress. I understand many Republicans are opposed to the initiative because they think they'll lose seats if this initiative passes.
No way to say for sure but one thing is certain: Voters should be electing their representatives. Representatives shouldn't be choosing their voters, which is what is happening now.
While I don't think the end result of this redistricting initiative will change much in this state in the long run, the status quo is unacceptable.
Posted by: Fred Mangels | August 17, 2005 at 06:44 AM