In the quest for our American dreams and ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, our society has hand-crafted our very own perceptions about how one should go about obtaining these essentials. The blessings bestowed upon this country have allowed us to almost invariably achieve the first two ideals of life and liberty. Thus the pursuit of happiness has become today?s pertinent American ideal, and our hand crafted perception of how to obtain it is through money.

Money gives us the liberty to enjoy such comforts as: car payments to keep the vehicle, food to eat, clothes to wear, child support to send, payments for the first and second mortgages on the house, and electric bills so we can have power?well, at least sometimes. In light of the recent events Northern Californian?s have had their power luxury compromised with now common rolling blackouts. Thus the discomfort felt from the working class to Governor Grey Davis has left the media flipping through their thesauruses searching for adjectives such as anger, fear, and rage to describe the problem. Recently Washington State introduced a new word to the mix, lawsuit, for they now intend to plague the situation with legal action against the Governor.

Though it may seem like all Californian?s are concerned with being left in the dark, through the blackness shines the faces of an overjoyed Republican party who perceive the power outages as a blessings in disguise. Apparently a Governor receives the blame or praise on what happens in their state and let just say Governor Davis isn?t getting much fan mail, and the fact that the Governor is a Democrat won?t make any of them lose any sleep. Though Davis did not directly contribute to the power outages, each blackout diminishes his bid for the 2004 presidential campaign.

Therein to insure that no hope for the whimpering Governor does arise, President Bush has only offered national aid to Northern California, ironically the part of the state in which he received the majority vote.

However, Davis has done little to save his name, for he has more resembled the persona of a whimpering puppy than the majestic leader in which he intends to portray of himself. Instead of taking charge and using our state?s surplus to relieve the blackouts, Davis relinquished much of his power to the Assembly. I guess that he is afraid to go out on a limb, since if something had gone wrong his presidential dreams would have been crushed. Instead of leadership, Davis pushed legislation for a ten-year power agreement with PG&E?behind closed doors? a bill that leaves California?s power bills with an unlimited rate cap.

Republican?s can, and will, wash their hands of the situation for the bill received less than five Republican votes. One of the Republican votes was from minority leader Campbell, who did so in the expressed hope to have our state?s leaders appear unified, more of that bipartisan act that we saw in the election. Being the minority leader Campbell was called to a meeting with the Governor, and the majority leader. While listening to the Governor?s ideas Campbell was supportive and agreed to vote for the bill. He then proceeded to go back to the minority caucus and tell them not to vote for the bill but that he had to so that they may appear unified, a common practice of course. But during the State Session Campbell furiously yelled at the Republican Representatives ?a perfectly performed act- telling them vote for the bill. This turned out to be a taboo move for soon to be ex-minority leader Campbell, for the minority felt he went to far.Today the Republicans have called a secret closed-door meeting to oust Campbell and replace him with Assemblyman Tim Leslie.

These events however will not pull the grins from our Republican leaders faces. In addition some have already labeled California?s Democratic Party as the black sheep for the next state election. Could these blackouts lead to a Republican majority in the California? Don?t hold your breath but anger, a little discomfort and a lot of money can go a long ways.