California used to lead the nation in a lot of areas.  We had the best schools, the best roads and the strongest economy.  We also had the best weather.  If there was a new trend that caught on in California, you could count on seeing it replicated throughout the rest of the country.  California was the undisputed leader of the country.  It was the place to be.

Sadly, we are about to lead the country once again, but in the worst possible way.  California is literally self destructing before our very eyes.  For a long time other states looked at the economic disaaster that is California and wondered if we could possibly be serious.  About every three months there is a new financial crisis and California faces another multi-billion dollar deficit.  Some people now estimate that in addition to the current deficit, California may have $100 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.   The rest of the country used to envy us.  Now they laugh at us.  How do you justify the thought process of political leaders who want to legalize marijuana and ban happy meals? 

On November 2, 2010, the entire country arose and demanded change with a loud clear voice.  They voted to reduce the size of government, stop taxing and stop spending.  But in California voters gave an overwhelming vote of confidence to the same clowns that have pushed our economy to the brink of collapse.  Then, in an act of pure insanity, voters gave the California legislature the authority to pass a budget with a simple majority vote.    The reason budgets weren’t passed on time is that a handful of Republicans refused to vote for increased taxes and increased spending.  Now the last remaining guardrail protecting the California economy from going over the cliff has been removed.  We have a union loving Democratic State Assembly, a union adoring Democrat State Senate, and a union worshiping Democratic Governor.   To finish the job, we elected pro-union liberal Democrats to every statewide office.

Following is the list of those elected to statewide office this Tuesday:   

Governor:  Jerry Brown, Democrat.   He was Governor for 8 years decades ago.  He became famous across the country as Governor Moonbeam.  During his tenure he fought against Proposition 13, which reduced property taxes, then tried to take credit for it.  By his own admission, during his previous tenure taxes went up, spending went up, roads deteriorated and education got worse.  But he was not Meg Whitman and he is a Democrat so he got elected.

Lt. Governor:  Gavin Newsom, Democrat.  He is the hard-core core left wing wacko Mayor of San Francisco.  He arbitrarily decided that Gay Marriage should be legal in California so he just started marrying gay couples in San Francisco.  He is so liberal and so far left that he was trounced by Jerry Brown in the Democratic primary.  So, he decided to run for Lt. Governor hoping no one would notice.  It worked.

State Controller:  John Chang, Democrat.   He claimed credit for saving the state millions of dollars because of actions taken by other people.  (This included the City of Bell scandal ignored by Debra Bowen).   But, no one cared, because he is a Democrat.

State Treasurer:  Bill Lockyer, Democrat.    He is famous for filing a Global Warming Lawsuit against automobile manufacturers when he was attorney general.  Then he even tried to sue the Board of Hewitt Packard with regard to a change in the board of directors.   However, the Republican candidate must have been really special, because even the Republican Party refused to endorse her.

Secretary of State:  Debra Bowen, Democrat.   She has been accused of ignoring massive voter fraud by ACORN.  She was notified of the problems in Bell, California, where the city manager and others were paying themselves outrageous salaries, but she ignored it.  The story eventually broke in the LA Times and became a major scandal.  There are also other allegations of preferential treatment of the Democratic Party.   This is the person who make sure our elections are fair and balanced.  Perfect.. 

Attorney General:  Kamala Harris, Democrat.  She set an all time record for poor performance as District Attorney for San Francisco.  Under her leadership, San Francisco has the lowest conviction record in the state.  No police organization in the state was willing to endorse her because too many obviously guilty people were set free because of her incompetence.  She also refused to turn over illegal aliens to ICE, even when one was a dangerous  convicted felon.  He ended up killing several people.   But, she is a Democrat, and in California that is all that matters.

Insurance Commissioner:  Dave Jones, Democrat.   He is an anti-insurance company activist who thinks all problems with regard to health insurance can be solved by personally ordering insurance carriers to lower premium, without regard to actual costs.  He loves Obamacare.  This tactic was tried before with Proposition 103, which was passed in 1988.  It is how we ended up with an elected Insurance Commissioner.  Proposition 103 required auto insurance companies to reduce rates by 20%.  It was litigated for 17 years.  Somehow rates never actually went down.  So far every person elected to Insurance Commissioner in California has tried to use the position as a political platform to run for Governor.  Perfect!

Superintendent of Schools:  Tom Torlarkson, Democrat.  (He switched from Democrat, to decline to state, to run for this non-partisan office).  He is a former teacher strongly endorsed by the California teachers union which spent more money on his campaign than he spent himself.  This is exactly the kind of balance we need in a Superintendent of Schools.  He will be more than willing to make the hard decisions and challenge the teachers union…right!

California has officially replaced Michigan as the dumbest state in the union.  For years we watched pro-union Democrats run the Michigan economy into the ground.   But this year the voters finally had enough and voted the Democrats out of power.  My prediction is that the Michigan economy will take off.   It is hard to imagine California improving under the leadership of this group.

Democrats are banking on turning the economy around by building the bullet train to run from Fresno to Bakersfield.  All of the trains and equipment will be manufactured in California. That actually is a good idea, because no sane business owner would continue to operate in California if there was a viable option.   This is progressive utopia; lots of government spending creating those delicious union jobs.  Of course California has no money and the federal government is broke.    So, they will probably try to finance this with bonds, backed by a project that has no chance of ever turning a profit.  This is similar to how the French financed the Panama Canal.  That worked really well too!

Even though voters miraculously voted down Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana, this state legislature is likely to just do that anyway.  Democrats view marijuana primarly as a great cash crop that they can tax with wild abandon.  In addition, this will attract a whole new business to California, pot farms.  No sane business owner, who does not smoke pot, is likely to be interested in setting up shop in this economic disaster zone.  In addition, the more people in California who smoke pot, the more likely we will continue to elect Democrats.

I am suddenly feeling warm all over.  Oops, I may have peed by pants.

TDM