Are you better off today than you were two, four or six years ago when progressive Democrats took over and expanded more of government? Of course not: As government grows, liberty decreases.

It was Thomas Jefferson who warned, “The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.”

But elections are changing. Voters are changing. America is changing. California has been leading much of that change, and not in a good way. This election is a potential… Read More

The contest for Secretary of State between Republican Pete Peterson and Democrat Alex Padilla appears to be a classic race between a citizen politician and a career bureaucrat. Padilla, 41, is a termed out State Legislator, and a former Los Angeles city councilman. Peterson, 47, leads the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University, is a business owner, and was the first Executive Director of Common Sense California, a bipartisan, nonprofit “think-and-do tank” devoted to improving civic participation in California.

Their “top two” primary race in June was very close though only 25 percent of registered… Read More

The back room deal between the California Grocers Association andUnited Food and Commercial Workers labor union paid off; Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill to ban and tax plastic and paper grocery bags… despite that all types of plastic shopping bags can be recycled into new bags.

SB 270by Senators Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles Alex Padilla, D- Pacoima, and Ricardo Lara, D-Los Angeles, “prohibits stores from distributing lightweight, single-use plastic bags.” Padilla is running for Secretary of State.

Immediately after the bill signing, the American Progressive Bag Alliance announced it was preparing to gather signatures for a November 2016 ballot initiative to repeal SB 270.

Governor Jerry Brown has repeatedly said, “There will be no new taxes for the foreseeable future.” But the plastic bag ban is also a tax increase on reusable bags, and paper bags — minimum 10 cents per bag — which grocers will pocket.

I remember when plastic bags were… Read More

On the eve of the United Nations climate summit summitthis week, Gov.Jerry Brownsigned six bills to make California the biggest electric vehicle market in the nation. Brown’s goal is to have 1.5 million zero-emission cars on the road by 2025.

The new laws expand the number of clean air vehicles with access to carpool and toll lanes from 55,000 to 70,000, regardless of how many occupants ride in the vehicles.

However, what Brown did not focus on are the electric car subsidies being extended to low income residents, under the administration of the Air Resources Board.Criticsof the increasingly subsidized green political movement say this is simply more taxpayer funded… Read More

The long time political dispute between California farmers and state and federal water regulators predates the latest drought and will continue long after, unless some political honesty takes place. This is Part ll of “Food or Fish: Political Honesty Needed in CA Water War.” Part l is here.

California farms and businesses are starved of water. Lawmakers and federal environmental regulators have authorized more than 81 billion gallons of water to flow out to the ocean, instead of being used for human… Read More

The long time political dispute between California farmers and state and federal water regulators predates the latest drought and will continue long after, unless some political honesty takes place.

By focusing on worn-out political balderdash, many in the media have bypassed sincere analysis of the drought, the causes, long-standing battles, and long-term ramifications.

California uses 40 percent of the water from the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Merced rivers,… Read More

Corruption is the misuse of entrusted power for private gain. Malfeasance and graft thrives in California’s state government. The well-documented corruption at the Employment Development Department, State Parks Department, Fish and Game, Air Resources Board, Coastal Commission, CalFire, and this year, in the State Senate, seems to continue, with business-as-usual by the Legislature.

This is Part ll about the unelected bureaucrats on state boards and commissions passing laws, and the Legislature which appears to condone this. Part l covered: 1) the Coastal Commission, 2) Air Resources Board, and 3) Parks Department. Part l isavailable here.

4) Groundwater monopoly

Despite… Read More

The Friday wrap-up of the 2014 legislative session brought passage of the ban on plastic bags, mandatory paid sick days,new groundwater regulations, more gun control, expanded tax breaks for Hollywood,and bilingual education bills. The Democrat-majority of the California Legislature has made it clear it honors only the interests of labor unions, trial lawyers, environmentalists and liberals politicians. And that’s it.

Gone is any pretext of concern for taxpayers, business owners and employers, or any respect for free enterprise and free markets.

The left has shown an historic distrust in free enterprise and free markets, and instead relied on socialism to artificially make market “corrections” following downturns, largely due to government intervention, heavy-handed regulations and manipulations.

California is a state whose politicians,… Read More