Thursday July 24, 2003 at 5:09 PM
Is it Democracy or Desperation?
Appearing in Politics
- “There’s a sense that California has lost the ability to govern itself. Its civic life makes the last days of Rome look serene.”
- Newsweek (July 28, 2003)
In case you’ve missed the news, it is this: the Governor of California will face a recall election on Tuesday, October 7th approximately eleven months after he defeated Republican Bill Simon in a legal and binding election. If you don’t live in California this might strike you as so much Left-Coast folly. Such a position however is dangerously naive in that it fails to acknowledge the potential impact of the situation. A little background is warranted.
- California is facing a state budget deficit of $38 billion, a figure larger than the entire budget of any other state save New York
- Democrats thoroughly control the state, holding every state-wide office
- The recall petition, signed by approximately 3% of California’s 35 million citizens, was funded by $1.7 million from Republican Congressman Darrell Issa
In case you still aren’t interested, consider this as well:
- California is one of 18 states with recall provisions
- California is the fifth largest economy in the world
- The most populous state in the nation, California’s 54 electoral votes are 20 percent of the total needed to win the Presidency
The October ballot will pose two questions: (1) should Governor Davis be recalled, and (2) who should replace him. It is important to note that the recall provision does not require the winner to collect a majority of the vote, only a plurality. In other words, if a number of candidates are on the ballot, the winner is likely to receive only a fraction of the overall vote.
Put it all together and it looks like this: with the support of a single multi-millionaire, 3 percent of the voters are holding the state government hostage, potentially replacing a duly elected governor with a candidate who failed to win a majority.
Regardless of your position on Governor Davis, it’s hard to deny the extreme and desperate nature of this tactic, its destabilizing effect, or its precedent-setting consequences. Unfortunately, it is all too indicative of an accelerating trend towards political extremism as seen in Texas’ struggle with redistricting, the FCC’s media ownership ruling, and the partisanship on daily display in our nation’s capital.
