Circus is politics as usual in state

Ryan Geronimo

Meanwhile, political pundits are taking this spectacle so seriously that they don’t even realize they’re squabbling like children.

article: Many Californians are calling our state’s historic recall a circus.

Meanwhile, political pundits are taking this spectacle so seriously that they don’t even realize they’re squabbling like children.

If the recall election weren’t so serious it would be easy for us to bury our heads in the sand (I know I’d like to). But it is serious, or at least it should be. It’s hard to tell when it feels like a backyard carnival teeming with clowns, screaming kids and a merry-go-round of identical horse’s posteriors.

Many label the Recall as a Republican power grab and others dislike that Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said it could put California $66 million deeper in the hole. The recall should have happened because Gray Davis broke his oath to uphold the state constitution and signed a bill making it possible for illegal immigrants to obtain the legal right to drive.

It was an obvious ploy to grab the Latino vote and keep himself in office. Davis made catering to special interests an art, most recently showering cash on the corrections lobby.

Other choices are not much better. Take Arnold Schwarzenegger, who can’t deviate from his repertoire of poses lest his muscles deflate. He has avoided in speaking with the press lest his brain might deflate. He’s only attending the debate at Sacramento State because he was given the questions. They don’t even provide questions beforehand in high school debates!

Schwarzenegger also claims to abhor special interest but hasn’t shied away from large donations that put his commitment to serving the public in question.

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante has secured large contributions from Indian Casino groups. I want to shoot craps with this guy. Guess who he’ll cater to if he wins?

Then you have the rest of the pack, average Joes and Janes with sensible ideas but no exposure and others with crazy ideas that might start to make sense if this circus doesn’t end soon.

The biggest on-going problem is that California politics are controlled by a 2-party system. Both the Democrats and the Republicans serve moneyed special interests and their own ultra-rich friends.

This corruption ought to scare us all out of our collective daze.

My problem is that most voters are apathetic. Many are not even registered and others simply vote for, “the lesser of two evils.”

If they would just embrace a strong ideal and have a little faith in their peers to do the same, disenfranchised Californians could easily squeeze out some of the spineless, poll driven “representatives” in office.

Most voters refuse to acknowledge that none of the candidates have any sense of social justice. This indicates that we are just as spineless as our leaders.

I am voting for Arianna Huffington, the Republican-turned-vertebrate who embraces ideals of social justice I share. Her skepticism and idealism reveal a wisdom not offered by other candidates.

If she can take a conservative diatribe and liberal suspicion in full view of the public, surely we can make the same transformation in the privacy of the voting booth.

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