Originally published September 2, 2003

I’ve not been following the California circus very closely. I figure they pretty much deserve whatever they get. I don’t have much of an opinion on Gray Davis, and whether he deserves to be recalled or not. I am, however, pretty opposed to recalls in general. Maybe if the office-holder is performing significant criminal acts, or is governing in such a manner that disaster is imminent, maybe then it is warranted. Clinton’s escapades didn’t rise to this level, and from what I can tell, Davis’s don’t either.

Recalls have been a growing trend around the country recently. It seems that some groups are so devoted to their own agenda that they will exploit whatever advantage they can. A variation of this theme is, for example, the gambling industry’s continuing attempts to get voters in various states to approve additional gambling venues. No matter how loud or how often the electorate speaks, there’s not much to be lost by giving your agenda another chance to be voted in. Eventually lightning strikes, or the opposition gets tired or distracted, and you’re in! Whatever happened to the notion that you accept defeat gracefully, and move on? You wait until the next election, and maybe you’ll be successful then.

As for California, it seems to me that certain ambitious (and rich) Republicans saw that Davis was very unpopular, and decided to strike while he continued to be so. For a party that loudly proclaims “law and order” and tells everyone to “follow the rules”, this seems ironic. Same thing in Texas, with the redistricting.

So who am I rooting for? Nobody, I could care less. What I am curious about is why would any up and coming politician, namely Arnold, want the governorship now? He likely won’t have time to fix the state’s problems before the next real election. Meanwhile the state becomes harder and harder to govern.