Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Super Decision Time

Today is the day that many of the biggest prizes in the 2008 Presidential primary season go to the polls, including my home state of California. I have been agonizing for the past few months over which candidate to endorse, but decision time is finally here. Therefore, after much cogitation, I have decided support former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Although I believe that either Governor Romney or Senator John McCain is a far superior nominee to either of the Democratic possibilities, I believe that Romney's established proficiency in the economic arena, coupled with his demonstrated competence as an executive gives him the edge. That being said, should John McCain win the nomination, I will happily support him for President.

In addition to the Presidential primary, there are also a number of propositions on the ballot today. Summaries of these propositions can be found at the California State Elections web page. My take on each is as follows:

Proposition 91: This essentially makes it harder for our elected representatives to dump funds intended for specific projects- in this case transportation upkeep- into the state General Fund. I have the lowest possible opinion of California's Legislature, so anything that makes it more difficult for them to spend our money on their pork projects is to be supported. Vote Yes on Proposition 91.

Proposition 92: This allows the politicians to spend more on eduication. Basically it is yet another way for politicians to throw money at a problem without actually solving it. This would allow our politicians to throw more money to teachers' unions, despite the fact that California is already one of the biggest-spending states in the country on a per-capita basis. I believe that we ought to work on improving the standards of both our teachers and our curriculum before we throw more money into education. Vote No on Proposition 92.

Proposition 93: This proposition will impose term limits on the California legislature in a manner that hopefully will withstand court challenges. I believe that term limits are a Good Thing, since we have far too many parasites in elected positions in this state. Therefore I urge you to vote Yes on Proposition 93.

Propositions 94 - 97: These are all the same- they allow four Indian tribes to increase their slot machines whilst paying lots of money to the state in return. I do not believe that the State of California has the Constitutional authority to negotiate agreements with these tribes. However, since the agreements have already been negotiated, this is essentially a judgment call- do you want these tribes, most of whom are in the Southern California area, to increase their slot machines? If so, and you like the idea of having these tribes pay more money to the State, then vote Yes. If you do not like this idea, then vote No.

Good luck with the lines at the voting places!

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