California Republicans – The End Is Near

California Republicans are dwindling. Their opponents blame them for being wrong, of course, but it’s hard to argue that while virtually every other minority in a hostile climate wants to leave, Republicans are not being pushed out and replaced by people who want to be around others of the same political philosophy.

A little majority maneuvering did not hurt. Republicans were already down to being only 31% of California’s voters, the state was so lopsided it approached Soviet levels of agreement, but because of people moving to be nearer each other  (Republicans moved inland – when Nancy Pelosi gets 80% of the vote in San Francisco despite causing the loss of Democratic control of Congress, there are no Republicans in San Francisco) California had 36% of California’s 53 Congressional seats. A well-funded campaign to make redistricting the domain of a ‘non-partisan’ (wink wink) commission succeeded and now the California Citizens Redistricting Commission has done its work and Republicans will be down to 12 seats – 21% of representation.  Is that good?  It is if you like to experiment with social programs and not have any sort of opposition.

The public saw that potential a while back and liberals and conservatives alike were worried about a progressive takeover so they blocked ‘tyranny of the majority’ by making tax raises requires a two-thirds vote – which required bipartisan efforts and compromise.  Now that has gone by the wayside as well, Democrats are going to hold a supermajority at the national and state levels no matter what.  Republicans are effectively finished in California.   Why would anyone register as a Republican then?  Whether they are leaving the state or not is unclear. What is clear is that no one votes when it doesn’t matter – that goes for both the left and the right.  As Republicans have been eradicated, new registrations have followed but there is little reason to vote on either side if 79% is one party so voter participation will drop across the board.

To hold on to what few voters they have, Republicans have focused on polarizing issues.  Gay marriage passed in New York and not in California not because Californians are against gay marriage – clearly they are not – but because the law was so poorly written in California and New York’s was much better.  New York liberals made sure churches could not be sued if they don’t want to perform gay marriages while California progressives – and we must make the distinction between liberals and progressives the same way we make them between conservatives and libertarians –  insisted they would never sue.  Well, progressives, unlike liberals, are wildly socially authoritarian, they use lawsuits and legislative pressure to accomplish everything so no one was buying it, including liberals, so the promises got voted down when people saw how badly written it was.  It took the kooky 9th Circuit Court of Appeals – the most far left in the land – to tell California voters changing the Constitution was unconstitutional.  But  the U.S. Supreme Court reversed or vacated 19 of the 26 decisions it looked at from the 9th Circuit last judicial term so that could actually be bad for gay marriage. One reversal of the 9th,  a conviction for raping a 72-year-old woman, was ridiculed by the Supreme Court by being “as inexplicable as it is unexplained” because the appeals court did not think the defense attorneys had done a good enough job defending the obvious rapist. Like California itself, the 9th Court has become wildly skewed.  “It’s no secret that the 9th is heavily Democratic,” said Barry McDonald, a constitutional law professor at Pepperdine University.  27 of its judges were hand-picked by Democrats and, in coastal California, that means the progressive fix is in. The Supreme Court regards all decisions by the 9th with skepticism. But instead of focusing on helping write a good law, Republicans basically looked like they were against gay marriage – an odd position for a group claiming to want government out of our lives. Pick illegal immigration or any other cause and it is the same missteps.

Californians, even progressives, should be concerned at the lopsided status.  The less ‘purple’ California is, the less it represents America and therefore the less of a voice it will have on national issues.   Obviously a healthy opposition forces people to either hone their positions or reconsider them.  Only the people in power who want to stay there regard totalitarianism as positive.