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• Wednesday, November 9, 2005 08:34 PM

  Prop. 77? "Reform?"

  Thanks to computer-aided demographic research, politicians can now draw politically homogeneous districts that guarantee reelection for incumbents year after year. This cripples the ability of Asian and Latino communities to build healthy politics and promote candidates for higher office. And as long as incumbents never have to explain themselves to constituents who don't agree with them, they're free to adopt extremist views, poisoning the national dialogue and wiping out the art of legislative compromise.

  Well, that's one way of looking at it. But here's another:

  The three judges would have been picked essentially by random lot: One Democrat, one Republican, and one picked randomly. (Note that there would be no chance of an Independent or third-party judge.) This would have given the Republican judges a 50% chance of being able to "compromise" from a position of power... which, in a blue state, is a significant change to the state's political balance... and with 10% of the Electoral College votes, a significant change to the national balance of power.

  Schwarzenegger distanced his social views from the Republican base when he ran for governor, positioning himself as a "maverick", but Prop. 77 was a blatant attempt at a power grab by the Republican establishment, which the Governator has cozied up to since his "election".

  —Tim Kokesh Read Tim Kokesh's other letters
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