As much as many of my friends in the GOP may wish that they can stop time, or even reverse time by 30 years, the likelihood of this occurring is slight. In my personal day to day interaction with time I’ve found it to be a one way street. Further, I’ve found that, as much as I would not like this to be the case in many instances, human culture, which includes our own society, changes and evolves as we move along in time.

I make this observation as a preface to a statement which will draw some degree of anger but which I’ve wanted to write for some time: Ronald Reagan and the politics of the 1980’s are not the answers to the doldrums in which we Republicans now find ourselves. Political parties, like society, either evolve, innovate, and change according to the needs of voters, or they stagnate, look backwards, wither and die.

There is an argument to be made that the Republican Party has collapsed for two essential reasons:

First, when given the opportunity on a national level to implement the good government reforms that brought us to power, we failed to do so in a spectacular manner. Voters might think or have thought the GOP insensitive, or… Read More

As much as my friends in the GOP may wish that they can stop time, or even reverse time by 30 years, the likelihood of this occurring is slight. In my personal day to day interaction with time I’ve found it to be a one way street. Further, I’ve found that, as much as I would not like this to be the case in many instances, human culture, which includes our own society, changes and evolve as we move along in time.

I make this observation as a preface to a statement which will draw some degree of anger but which I’ve wanted to write for some time: Ronald Reagan and the politics of the 1980’s are not the answers to the doldrums in which we Republicans now find ourselves. Political parties, like society, either evolve, innovate, and change according to the needs of voters, or they stagnate, look backwards, wither and die.

There is an argument to be made that the Republican Party has collapsed for two essential reasons:

**There is more – click the link**

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The Governor’s recent threat to veto every bill until a budget is adopted gave me an idea.

Now I am going to say this, and somewhere some bozo in the press is going to take this out of context, and claim that it is some secret legislative Republican plan. Of course, if I were in a Republican caucus still, I would have already said it. The truth is, for those of you in the press who read this, this is a joke. It is a good idea, but it is a joke.

This is an even numbered year, which means the legislative session ends on August 31 at midnight. After August 31, it takes a vote of three quarters of the Legislature to pass any bill that is not a tax measure or appropriation. On August 31 at midnight, every bill that has not passed dies, unless the Republicans agree to allow it to be heard.

Since Democrats never let any good Republican bill pass, the Governor’s threat gives the Republicans a legislative strategy, in addition to their budget strategy. More important, since this Governor has no aversion to really bad, intrusive government measures, Republicans can’t even count on the Governor to stop bad legislation. So how they stop… Read More

Great news for California homeschoolers! The 2nd Appellate District Court ruled this morning that homeschooling is a legitimate form of education in the Golden State. Home School Legal Defense Association just sent out the following press release:

Homeschoolers Win Landmark Case

In a 3-0 decision the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District reversed its earlier ruling which would have required homeschoolers to be certified teachers in order to homeschool in California.

"This is a great victory for homeschool freedom," said Michael Farris, one of the team of attorneys who argued the case before the court and Chairman of HSLDA. "I have never seen such an impressive array of people and organizations coming to the defense of homeschooling. The team effort was remarkable," he added.

Mr. L of In re Rachel L was represented by Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice Foundation and the Alliance Defense Fund. The court agreed to re-hear In re Rachel L in March after… Read More

There is some controversy over the Governor’s pledge to veto all bills sent to him before a budget is passed, because one of the bills on the way to him is one that he supports, that re-jiggers to his liking and gives favorable ballot placement to the multi-billion dollar hi-speed rail boondoggle (you know, where ALL Californians pay for trains that will be used by only a small fraction of the state’s residents) set to appear on this November’s ballot.

So far the Governor has continued to maintain that he will veto ALL bills, which would include this one.

But I wouldn’t bet on it, as the Governor has infamously boasted of the benefits of flip flopping. The deadline for the bill to be signed in time to matter is this Monday…… Read More

On Wednesday, Governor Schwarzenegger said that he thinks legislators should not be paid when the budget is late. Actually, many people have expressed that sentiment. This session, Republican Senator Jeff Denham carried legislation to do just that (it was soundly defeated in committee).

I actually disagree with the Governor, Senator Denham, and others who advocate this policy. The reason is that it seems to support the notion that any budget, whether good or bad, is better than no budget.

From the perspective of protecting taxpayers, like in this budget year, I don’t want conservative legislators who may not be able to afford skipping paychecks to be forced to choose between paying their mortgage, or voting for a bad budget with a tax increase.

If a proposed budget is bad enough, better to have no budget, I say. Fortunately, our legislators are being paid, so they can keep voting against tax increases until Christmas, if need be.… Read More

It’s a relatively quiet "recess" period here Inside the Beltway so I’m branching out beyond my standard news-clipping into areas of broader thought and reflection, channeling Hedley Lamar if you will.

Two articles in different papers from opposite ends of the country paint a picture of deteriorating property rights and the challenges that face owners who wish to alter, reuse or rehabilitate their property for similar of different uses.

The Los Angeles Times notes today that Southern California developer Rick Caruso is considering walking away from his 14-acre holding at the former Miramar resort in Montecito.

It seems Caruso would be struck between a proverbial rock and a hard place under a requirement by the Montecito Planning Commission that an additional water/environmental study be conducted prior to sale or future redevelopment. He notes the requirement would make it difficult to redevelop due to delay and added costs (presumably complicated in the current lending environment) and also complicate any effort to sell, should he choose to do… Read More

The FlashReport gets a “shout out” in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail, read by many thousands of politicos around the country. The subject of this entry, from FR friend John Fund, is Attorney General Jerry Brown and the Protect Marriage Act…

JERRY RIGGED California Attorney General Jerry Brown is stepping outside his law enforcement role and playing politics with a November ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage in the state.

Backers of the measure collected some one million signatures this spring under a title approved by Mr. Brown’s office that made it clear the measure would “provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid.” Since the signatures were collected, the state Supreme Court has ruled same-sex marriage constitutional but also allowed the ballot measure to go before voters. Mr. Brown, a candidate for governor in 2010, has apparently decided to make a play for liberal Democratic primary voters by changing his own office’s description of the measure. It now reads that the ballot initiative seeks “to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to… Read More