I filled out my absentee ballot today. I voted NO on the recall. I also voted NO on the two propositions on the ballot. Normally, I automatically vote no on initiatives, even when I like the particular provisions, because this is usually a terrible way to make laws.
Prop 53 requires 3% of state general funds to be devoted to infrastruture projects. I have no idea how that compares to current practice. And if the state legislature wants to do that, they have the power to do it now. Why write something like that into a law that can only be amended by another statewide vote (which is the case with initiatives) or by court decisions (also a bad way to make law, although often necessary)?
Prop 54 is some crackpot thing written by opponents of affirmative action to forbid state and local governments from collecting data based on race. I think the idea is that if the government can't collect race-based data, it will be harder for anyone to argue that racial discrimination is occurring. The whole thing is ridiculous.
Prop 54 is another one that's likely to get shot down immediately by the courts if it passes, proving once again that "direct democracy" can enact measures just as flawed as "the politicians" do. There are so many obvious public-policy reasons for collecting this data, from legislative apportionment to public-health records, that it's clearly just a measure aimed at sabotaging the enforcement of anti-discrimination laws.
There is a big measure of irony in this, too. Measures like Prop 54 are intended to appeal to "angry white men." But non-Latino Caucasians are now a minority in California (though still the largest minority). If there's any state where whites might legitimately worry about possible racial discrimination against them in the future, it's California. Although right now, that problem exists mostly in the over-excited fantasies of Rush Limbaugh fans, even in California.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, California and Non-Stop Elections, this recall farce should be the occasion for Californians to take a serious look at our state constitution, especially the ostensible "direct democracy" provisions for initiative and recall, which in the form that California currently has them, actually do more in practice to inhibit democracy than to strenthen it.
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