Politically speaking, all bets are
off, the rules have changed and everything is up for grabs in 2012.
Legislative and congressional
districts have been redrawn by a citizen’s commission without the
gerrymandering that has contributed so much to the stalemates and gridlock in
Washington and Sacramento for most of the last two decades.
Even more importantly, the party primary system is gone, replaced by an open
primary system that allows you on June 5 to cast your ballot for any candidate,
no matter the party affiliation. The top two vote-getters will be in a runoff
in November, even if they are both from the same party, unless somebody gets an
outright majority in June.
Taking control away from the Democrats and Republicans
should mean that there will be fewer politicians from the far left and far
right, and more somewhere in the middle, where most voters are. This is a
change that would re-introduce the idea of compromise back into state and
congressional politics and might even get America moving again.
If you don’t like the way things are going, today is the day to make a
resolution to pay attention to the details of the actions of your elected
officials. Go beyond the glad-handing and smooth-talking, and examine their
records to see if they represented you, helped solve your problems and made
your life better, or whether they kowtowed to contributors, lobbyists,
corporations, unions and all the other special interests that write most
legislation and buy what is euphemistically called “access.”
My experience in covering government in a lot of different cities and states
for more than four decades is that it is a rare politician who still has a
healthy measure of integrity left after even a year or two in office.
There are some, but not many, who stand on principle, who say what they mean
and mean what they say.
But they are a rare breed. Holding public office is addictive — the flattery,
the self-importance, the pressures to obey the party, to pander to where the
campaign money comes from.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
“While America was out partying last night, drinking it up and celebrating the end of 2011, Obama quietly signed the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, which nullifies the Bill of Rights and declares America to be a “battleground” in which all American citizens can be arrested, imprisoned, tortured and even killed with no due process.
You don’t even have to be charged with a crime. Now, thanks to Obama, the military can simply “disappear” you.”
http://www.naturalnews.com/034537_NDAA_Bill_of_Rights_Obama.html#ixzz1iFfj0Fv9
“This is the law that will cement Obama’s legacy in the history books as the traitor who nullified the Bill of Rights and paved America’s pathway down a road of tyranny that will make Nazi Germany’s war crimes look like child’s play. If Bush had signed a law like this, liberals would have been screaming “impeachment!”
Ron, your optimism is delusional. Nothing is going to change. Special interests still have all the money to throw at the politicians that will do their bidding. And yours is one-party city & state.
You lost. And you did not even fight. You just gave away the city and state and now you cannot change a thing.
Obama will go down in history as the 2ND U.S. President to sign off on the Dred Scott Decision! He signed a law allowing U.S. Citizens to be kidnapped and shipped off overseas to be killed for “being a suspect.” Dred Scott was a free man returned to his “master” back in the 1800′s. Jeez, I guess in 200 years the Politicians still can’t stop trying to “cull the herd” of us Commoners. Washington, D.C. KNOWS they fucked the whole world up, so they passed that Defence Authorization Bill to hang all of us from trees when the Dollar ceases to exist and no one can get a dollar out of an ATM. That’s the reason for Obama signing a clearly UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND STUPID LAW.
Is comment number one (and two) accurate?
Okay-it’s me-”anonymous on January 2, 2012 6:09AM”
I went cross eyed reading the newly signed bill-ditto with the Thomas (Library of Congress) summary. I couldn’t find where the power was authorized. The following article, albeit opinionated, explains it well and has additional links to boot.
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/three_myths_about_the_detention_bill/
Here is a link to our representatives who passed the law for the prez to sign. Bummer, it’s sponsor is a Valley dude (McKeon). Heaven help us.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=1&vote=00230
Ron,
I was in favor and voted for the Citizen’s Redistricting Commission to draw California’s district lines. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the citizens who ultimately had the say in the final lines, according to an investigation by Pulitzer Prize winning ProPublica, it was Democratic insiders http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_19594086?source=rss&cid=dlvr.it
Looking at the maps, it give Democrats as many as seven more congressional seats than they had before. They already had 34 of the 53 seats in the state, which is 44 percent Democrat, 30 percent Republican and 28 percent Decline to State. There was also great imbalance in the State Senate lines drawn, which gives the Democrats a 75 to 25 percent majority over Republicans; Dems are over-represented and Reps are under-represented. Plus, it’s a loss for Prop. 13 in that they could easily get 2/3 needed to raise taxes.
Next time, what they need to do is make sure that the process is done openly and not behind closed doors. Also, make sure that Republicans, Democrats and Decline To States who are selected are life-long registered with those parties and didn’t just switch sides the week before. Also, there need to be minutes taken and who was there at the meeting. That way, there’s no funny business.
When I look at the City of LA and all the liberal democrats that have ruined it I want to re register Republican. The Latino politicians who promised to help their own districts have in fact done more harm to their own people. As a Latino I will never vote for a politician using the race card and no one else should either. If you take a drive around Los Angeles the most devastated communities are the Latino districts where the city council members who rep them are Latino and instead used money to help developers, help get rich people richer, and made up ordinances that are harmful to all.
7:15–it’s good that you are finally awakened but it’s too late. All the Latino pols you people propped up only because there are the same race as you, they are not going anywhere and will just move to another elected job once their term is up. After all what qualifications do Villar, Cardenas, alarcon, huizar, etc have? None only that there are Latinos and you are suckers to vote for them. Now enjoy the government you deserve. Too late to register republican. This is one-party city and state.
Parties were created to keep people divided and distracted “Divide and Conquer”. When people start to wake up they will realize that Democrats and Republicans is a con game played on them. This is not a football game in which if your team looses, you don’t loose anything (unless you put up a bet), this is serious business and most people do not know their candidate morality and ethics, they just vote because their party says so. The problem is that a vote carries a great responsibility and most people do not have the understanding of what that means. When they vote without knowledge they are putting at risk not only their own wellbeing but the wellbeing of others.
Fear is what keeps humans stuck in their limitations. They are afraid to go beyond their comfort zone. These are the people that obey authority without questioning their leaders actions or the status quo. They are the ones for who the TV is their God and what comes out of it the Gospel Truth. They are the sheeple.
You should have a post on the funniest and biggest lies of the so called leaders of the City of 2011. This one is a good start.
“”"Chief Beck made a promise to the officers stating, “I promise if you protect and serve the City of Los Angeles, I will protect and serve you.”