What is democracy worth? For California Democrats, the answer seems to be one governor recalled and another seemingly doomed to follow suit. Two politicians from the Democratic Party – both of whom were considered corrupt by enough people for a recall election to occur – is all it took for the so-called party of the people to drop any pretense of honoring the pure, unadulterated democracy for which they so often howl. As it turns out, Democrats only respect the will of the majority when they win. Who could have guessed?
The Headman Hovers
(Photo by Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
In 2003, Governor Gray Davis – a Democrat – was recalled and replaced by the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who went on to be term-limited out of office. In one of the most reliable Democratic Party majorities in the nation – a state that hasn’t voted for a GOP candidate for president since the 80s – a majority of voters thought this guy was either corrupt or simply inept enough to call a special election and then give him the boot. That’s an important enough point that it bears repeating: In a solid blue state, more than half of the voters decided this guy was bad enough that it was worth letting a Republican take the job.
Now it’s happening again. Gavin Newsom – a Democrat, wouldn’t ya know it – faces the ax come September 14. And like the former Mr. Universe before him, Larry Elder seems poised to turn the office red once again. The outcome is unsure, yet Newsom and the party are worried. As Liberty Nation’s Jose Backer pointed out in August, Elder was late to the game, but as of now, he’s the frontrunner to replace Newsom. “Already, media organizations like the Sacramento Bee and Los Angeles Times have been combing through Elder’s record, drawing connections between him and former President Donald Trump,” Backer explained, just a month after Elder threw his hat in the ring.
For Newsom, it must feel as though the headman is hovering, just waiting for the order.
On Second Thought, Maybe Democracy Isn’t So Great
As of October 2020, there were 10,170,317 Democrats registered to vote in California compared to just 5,334,323 Republicans, according to the CA Secretary of State’s office. If this recall were a mere GOP attack like so many claim, what could Newsom possibly have to worry about? Even if every single registered Republican voted to recall him and then voted to replace him with Larry Elder or some other Republican, all it would take to stop them is a little more than half of the Democrats. Currently, 12% of registered voters must sign a petition to make a recall election happen. That’s a little over 2.6 million signatures. Sure, the GOP has that – but again, what are the Democrats really worried will happen when they have twice as many registered voters? It would take nearly every Republican and unaffiliated voter combined to overpower the blue majority in the Golden State.
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
So what’s the Democrats’ solution to the fact that Newsom looks destined to be the second governor – and second Democrat – to be recalled since 2003? Here’s a hint: It isn’t to allow the voters to have their say.
Win or lose come September 14, state officials – in the Democratic Party, of course – are looking to “rip apart the recall process and put it back together,” according to Garry South, former senior political adviser to the recalled governor, Gray Davis. Democrats control a 2/3 majority over the state legislature, and the people have a history of thwarting that legislative supermajority by popular vote referendum. The lawmakers are tired of it, and if they have their way, the recall process – if it survives – will look considerably different.
That’s right: Democrats, the vocal champions of pure democracy – that is, 100% rule by simple majority of the popular vote – who lob labels like “bigot” and “racist” at anyone brave enough to speak up against the tyranny of the majority, want to make it harder to vote corrupt and inept politicians out of office, a process that already reflects the will of the majority. But don’t expect Democrats to do anything but ignore this should it be thrown back in their faces come time for the U.S. Senate to consider stripping the states of the power – left to them by the Constitution – to set their own election laws.
There are corrupt politicians and untrustworthy “experts” representing every side in politics – but the general hypocrisy of the Democratic Party is nothing new – and it certainly isn’t shocking. That California Dems want to “rip apart” a process that allows voters to hold politicians accountable to their will because it might be about to be used for the second time in 18 years to remove one of their own exposes the lie of their alleged belief in democracy.
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