Ballot Initiatives Become Pawns in Democrat Schemes

The shocking national political events have rightfully dominated the news of the past few weeks. But in relative obscurity, governments everywhere are still working, and the California political establishment has been busy waging a war of deception and disempowerment against our citizens. This time, they’re targeting the ballot initiative process, an important form of direct democracy.

First is the death of the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act (TPGAA), a voter-rights initiative aimed at putting the brakes on runaway taxes and fees plaguing our famously expensive state.

TPGAA would have put the tax- and fee-increase reins in voter hands, as summarized by the Wall Street Journal: “The initiative would require a majority of voters to approve taxes adopted by the Legislature. Both the Legislature and voters would have to approve regulatory action that increases state revenue. Charges for specific government services or products like fishing licenses would have to reflect the actual cost of providing the service or product. The initiative would also raise the threshold for localities to pass all special taxes to two-thirds.”

When the initiative qualified to be placed on the ballot this November, what did Governor Gavin Newsom, the man who supposedly represents all 40 million Californians, do? He sued to get it removed from the ballot, and a hyper-partisan California court sided with the Governor and removed the measure. The Governor and Legislature can’t let anything disrupt their endless taxing and spending. The people won’t even have a chance to tighten the reins on government growth. So much for democracy.

Next up are two cynical, pro-crime smokescreens floated by the Legislature and Governor Newsom to cloud the result of an actual tough-on-crime initiative on the November ballot.

The initiative, Prop. 36,  would undo some of the infamous Prop. 47, which essentially legalized shoplifting under $950 and gave blessing to open-air drug markets, turning California into a criminals’ paradise and pushing retailers to the brink.

Prop. 36 will put some teeth back into the criminal justice system, protect businesses and families, punish criminals for a change, and mend the social fabric weakened by rampant crime and drug-den takeovers of our public spaces.

But the California Legislature is sadly and shockingly pro-criminal. To them, “the system” is always the problem, never the people who are filling up shopping carts and walking out of stores in broad daylight, with no fear of punishment.

So, they sprang into action by drafting a package of bills that sounded tough-on-crime but included “poison pills,” meaning the bills would be voided if Prop. 36 passed. Voters reading the ballot summary for Prop. 36 could have been confused, thinking they were weakening law enforcement by voting for the measure.

Thankfully, this shameful deceit eventually collapsed under a massive outcry by law enforcement and a public weary of crime.

After the bills failed, Governor Newsom floated another initiative to compete with Prop. 36, again to soften and undermine the commonsense changes found in the people’s initiative. That last-minute effort cratered as well because even legislative Democrats refused to support a competing proposition to Prop. 36, leaving the people with an honest chance to change the course of the state this coming November.

Sacramento Democrats also understand that having Prop. 36 on the ballot hurts their chances in November. Their efforts to thwart the reforms in the initiative are as much political as they are philosophical.

Instead of obsessive politicking, the Democrats should look at their own policies and try to understand why a measure that punishes criminals, creates safe neighborhoods and businesses, and closes drug markets is considered an electoral threat to them.

The capitol is the people’s building, not a walled fortress to protect incumbents and special interests, and voters are not an inconvenience to be shooed away by the courts or by trickery.

Despite the worst efforts of Sacramento Democrats, the people still have a chance to support Prop. 36 in November and build a brighter future for our state.