Comments
MY THOTS - Propositions and measures are not dissimilar to those pitches you hear from a carnival barker or in the red-light district of town). They promise a great experience and satisfaction guaranteed. But after all the hoopla and campaign promises die, you will be stuck with another governmental failure, a thinner wallet, and dysgeusia.
We'll keep getting the same terrible results if we vote for the same leaders.
We can rein in bad policies by voting out incumbents (especially the current DA Gascón) and State Senators, Assemblymen, and women. Hopefully, we can exercise our common sense and restrain some of the destructive policies they implemented because of ballot initiatives on local and state ballots.
Here are my recommendations on the California Ballot Measures and Propositions:
Prop 2 - No! Bonds = new taxes. “Putting our children in debt to pay for their own meager education with endless bond issues is shameful. Our education system is a money pit, and our children are being short-changed. The bankers who financed this are doing exceptionally well.” – Mike Netter. The more money the public schools appropriate, the worse the test scores. Precisely, the same results we get with the Homeless Industrial Complex.
Prop 3 - No! Personal values rule. Also, bear in mind that gay marriage is already legal in California.
Prop 4 - No! Again, bonds are new taxes.
Prop 5 - No! It makes increasing taxes easier. Which removes taxpayer protection that has been in the state Constitution since 1879,
Prop 6 - No! Prison labor is not slavery. You committed the crime, so work that body. Pay your debt to society.
Prop 32- No! Minimum wage increases are destructive to the job market and the economy in general.
Prop 33—No! Imposing rent controls has several problems. One of them is that landlords lack a real incentive to maintain their properties. Another, who will want to build new housing if you can’t charge fair rent?
Prop 34 - Up to you.
Prop 35 -No. Too much Medi-Cal is given to illegals.
Prop 36 - Hell, yes! Put all the thugs in prison.
County Measure A – NO! Measure A in LA County is a regressive tax hike that will only benefit the politicians that hand out the funds and the Homeless Industrial Complex, not the homeless.
Measure- DD-LL – No, as the same old politicians that have gotten everything wrong will hand-pick the Commission.
County Measure G – No. If it passes, the measure will add millions to the county’s future budget, which will come at the expense of services and programs. This may to even higher taxes and lead to cuts in nurses, social workers, first responders, and others.
Regarding the Donald:
People ask me if I am voting for Trump. I’m not voting for Trump. I am voting to protect my family from criminal illegal immigration. Over 660,000 known felons were imported by the border czar Harris. I am voting for the right to bear arms to protect my family and my life.
I am voting for the First Amendment, which is about free speech and opinions that may be inconvenient, unpopular, and hurtful. The Democrats have devised a word salad to protect you from the information they don’t want you to hear, such as misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, and therefore eliminating this class of speech will somehow save democracy, according to John Kerry. Yet, we all know who be the decider of bad information, none other than a government censor? I am voting for political freedom, the right to express a political opinion without losing my job.
My ballot is being cast against the Trans Agenda, telling young school children in secrecy without parental consent they are a girl when they are a boy or psychologically pressuring a boy to become a girl. I am voting to protect us from DEI (Didn't Earn It) gone wild. Even the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has gone completely woke. According to FEMA’s website, and I quote verbatim, their Number 1 Goal Is to “instill equity as a foundation of emergency management.” WHAT!! So only approved minorities will get assistance? Goal #2: “Lead whole of community in climate resilience.” (this mangled sentence is cut and pasted from FEMA’s website) I am voting for the restoration of meritocracy and earning it. I want the best person hired for the job regardless of ethnicity, sexuality, color, creed, race, religion, handicap, or philosophy.
I am voting against World War III with Russia, China, and Iran. I am voting for an agreement with Russia regarding NATO’s role in Ukraine. I am voting against hundreds of billions of dollars being squandered in needless proxy wars all over the world. I am voting against 750 military bases in 80 different countries and the return of our troops. I am voting for peace and cooperation with the rest of the world. I am voting for a sane energy policy allowing cheap hydrocarbons and nuclear energy to create affordable energy. I am voting against climate hysterics who have yet to prove that CO2, the key to plant life, is ruining the planet.
I am voting to make America Healthy again. I want Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate the obesity, chronic disease, and autism epidemics. To break the pharmaceutical Industrial complex into a million pieces. I’m voting for food freedom. I support farmers and farmers’ markets, not big agriculture with pesticide-laden produce and conglomerates making chemically laced, ultra-processed food.
My vote will be for lower inflation and a stronger, unweaponized US dollar. I’m voting for the next Supreme Court Justice(s) to protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I am casting my ballot for the police to be respected, for law and order, and for criminals not to be put back on the street to cause more harm.
I am voting for keeping our jobs in America and not to be outsourced to the cheapest labor markets. I'm also voting for strong borders and legal immigration. I am voting to do away with all the freebies given to illegals and to look after American citizens. I am voting for the return of teaching Math, Science, English, and History in our public schools.
I might be ultimately proven wrong, but Trump is embracing the big tent philosophy of the old Democratic Party, with RFK Jr. Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk (a confessed blue-team voter), Nicole Shanahan, a Democratic Mega donor, and numerous labor unions standing with the Golden Golem of Greatness. And with the Republican Defections of Dick (I never met a war I didn’t love) Cheney and his daughter, I think it’s clear where peace, hope, progress, and the Bill of Rights reside. Trump’s 2nd term might be very different and significantly more progressive and Democratic than his first term. Therefore, I believe I am voting for more freedom, justice, prosperity, health, and innovation. May America again act as a beacon of hope for the world. Elections have consequences, and may the outcome be of benefit to all.
(Eliot Cohen has been on the Neighborhood Council, serves on the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council, is on the Board of Homeowners of Encino, and was the president of HOME for over seven years. Eliot retired after a 35-year career on Wall Street. Eliot is a critic of the stinking thinking of the bureaucrats and politicians that run the County, the State, and the City. Eliot and his wife divide their time between L.A. and Baja Norte, Mexico.)
