Thursday, June 28, 2012

A Super-Majority Looms in the Golden State

Now I rarely look at local races in states where I don’t currently live, but since Cali is my place of origin I usually pay attention when something special happens there.
Like now.
California, by virtue of the 2010 census, has a new State Assembly district, AD 66. It is based in an interesting area of what is known as the South Bay area, where I am from, that straddles heavily middle class Torrance with heavily upper class Palos Verdes. It is, in short, a microcosm of the interclass warfare that is emerging as the 1% seek to drive the 99% further into depths of despair and debt.
The district leans Democratic by a mere 3%, but in the recent special election the only Democrat on the ballot, Al Muratsuchi, received 38% of the vote, beating out the nearest Republican, Craig Huey. But all the remaining candidates were Republicans. So Muratsuchi will run against Huey in November for the seat.
Now here is the thing. If Al Muratsuchi wins this race this gives the Democrats in the State Assembly a 2/3 majority, enough to finally and once and for all end the stranglehold that the Republican obstructionist minority maintains in that state, a stranglehold that prevents state government from budgeting enough funds to meet essential services in that state.
So this is another race to watch in November. One that could spell the difference between California finally being able to dig itself out from under the Republican morass that it has had to deal with since the passage of Proposition 13 back in the 70’s. Prop. 13 worked until Republicans decided that bipartisanship was not an option anymore.
And in truth, this race is representative of the ongoing struggle between the monied class that has learned how to buy elections, and the working class, that only wants a level playing field.

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