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Hold on to your hearts, folks, I'm about to shock you.
I'm voting for Schwarzenegger in November. There are a couple of reasons. The main one is I agree with a lot of what he has done while in office. For the first time in decades we have a state budget that is both on-time and balanced. Schwarzenegger isn't another right-wing drone; his positions on many social issues match my own (we disagree on gay marriage, but his take is that it shouldn't be decided by the courts - I see the courts as the natural arena for civil rights protection.)
He has shown himself to be pretty moderate. He's worked to decrease the size of the government while increasing efficiency in services. He, despite being the inspiration for the Hummer being sold to the public, has signed many bills protecting the environment while recognizing the need to support our vital agricultural sector and further growth.
Schwarzenegger has also broken ground in creating an inclusive state government. His Chief of Staff is a liberal Democrat (and boy, did he take heat for that appointment) and many of the officials that he deals with daily are also Democrats. The fact that he can work with them, and the Democrat-led Senate and Assembly, speaks volumes for his abilities in office.
One other thing that really impressed me is his ability to admit mistakes and work to change when he is shown to have been wrong. Take the special election we had last year where Arnold tried to get four initiatives that he couldn't get through Sacramento into law by taking them to the people. All four lost the vote by a wide margin, and the Governor freely and publicly admitted that the special election was a mistake, and he needed to learn more patience. He has.
Over in "my" party, Phil Angelides seems to be running on a weak attempt to link Arnie with Bush (never mind the the Governor refused to deploy CANG troops to the border until the Feds finally promised to pay for it, and the fact that he has publicly disagreed with the President on several occasions) and when you actually look at his campaign, all he seems to understand is raising taxes - which we don't need to do right now! I see nothing there to vote for.
Finally, I prefer it when one party controls the legislative branch while the other controls the executive. I believe that it leads to better government through negotiation and compromise; no one group is free to run wild in ideological glee.
He has shown himself to be pretty moderate. He's worked to decrease the size of the government while increasing efficiency in services. He, despite being the inspiration for the Hummer being sold to the public, has signed many bills protecting the environment while recognizing the need to support our vital agricultural sector and further growth.
Schwarzenegger has also broken ground in creating an inclusive state government. His Chief of Staff is a liberal Democrat (and boy, did he take heat for that appointment) and many of the officials that he deals with daily are also Democrats. The fact that he can work with them, and the Democrat-led Senate and Assembly, speaks volumes for his abilities in office.
One other thing that really impressed me is his ability to admit mistakes and work to change when he is shown to have been wrong. Take the special election we had last year where Arnold tried to get four initiatives that he couldn't get through Sacramento into law by taking them to the people. All four lost the vote by a wide margin, and the Governor freely and publicly admitted that the special election was a mistake, and he needed to learn more patience. He has.
Over in "my" party, Phil Angelides seems to be running on a weak attempt to link Arnie with Bush (never mind the the Governor refused to deploy CANG troops to the border until the Feds finally promised to pay for it, and the fact that he has publicly disagreed with the President on several occasions) and when you actually look at his campaign, all he seems to understand is raising taxes - which we don't need to do right now! I see nothing there to vote for.
Finally, I prefer it when one party controls the legislative branch while the other controls the executive. I believe that it leads to better government through negotiation and compromise; no one group is free to run wild in ideological glee.
I hear you
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And the fact that the budget is balanced doesn't begin to solve the state's problems in education and health care -- the tax-cut ratchet has driven us from one of the two or three top states in education, to one of the two or three worst. Those problems are only going to be solved with more money, which means raising taxes. Maybe S. is capable of rubbing the Republicans' noses in that fact, but I doubt it. It's likely we'll find out.
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