The California primary today is potentially very interesting
Although it may end up with the same-old same-old.
First we have the governorship. The loathsome Newsom is the current officeholder, and he survived a recall election recently quite handily. Newsom would dearly love Republican Brian Dahle to win the primary among his opponents, because Newsom is aware that no Republican stands a realistic chance of winning against him in November.
However, one of the candidates is the considerably more unique Michael Shellengerger, who is non-aligned in regard to party but who used to be a Democrat. Prior to his California run in 2022, I knew of Shellenberger from this book that he wrote:
In June 2020, Shellenberger published Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All, in which the author argues that climate change is not the existential threat it is portrayed to be in popular media and activism. Rather, he posits that technological innovation and capital accumulation, if allowed to continue and grow, will remedy environmental issues. According to Shellenberger, the book “explores how and why so many of us came to see important but manageable environmental problems as the end of the world, and why the people who are the most apocalyptic about environmental problems tend to oppose the best and most obvious solutions to solving them.”
Shellenberger was originally a Democrat but is now running with no party designation, and if you go here you’ll see some of the charts he’s emphasizing in his sharp critique of Newsom’s policies in California.
To give one example of his approach, here’s what Shellenberger had to say about San Francisco mayor London Breed’s proposal to favor the trans homeless over other homeless when getting benefits:
It’s not only totally unethical to discriminate against who gets shelter or medical treatment since the vast majority of homeless people on the streets are either addicted to hard drugs or suffering mental illness, it may be illegal…
The underlying problem is that California is completely without leadership at every level of government…Gov. Gavin Newsom refuses to shut down the homeless encampments, which are open drug scenes.
Sounds right to me, and not typical of the usual Democrat position.
“George Soros is the biggest donor of these radical left district attorneys and of Gavin Newsom. Their agenda is just to shut down the prisons, let the prisoners out without rehabilitating them first,” Shellenberger told “America Reports.”
“That’s why you see a crisis of chaos, the open-air drug markets, the fentanyl deaths. The people of California, we are very liberal people, but we do have our limits…we want to see law and order in the cities…the state.”
Interesting combination message: we’re liberals, but we have our limits.
And then there’s San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin, who is facing a recall. Here’s my very first post on Chesa, whom I called “the ultimate red diaper baby” when he was first elected as DA in 2019. It was a simple matter to predict that his tenure would be a disaster, and it certainly has been.
The real question is whether the vote today will be enough to get rid of him. If the polls are any indication he will be gone, but we all know that election results can surprise. I also have spoken over the last year to several people I know who live in San Francisco or its environs, and they are not at all happy with the crime increase. When I brought up Boudin, however, although they didn’t defend him they didn’t excoriate him either. So I don’t know.
[NOTE: I’d forgotten this article (I found the link in that Boudin post of mine from 2019), about the life and fate of a man who was wounded in Chesa’s parents’ crime. It’s quite a story.]
Shellenberger is intelligent, articulate, and well-informed about the important issues, while Newsom is unspeakably disastrous. Boudin (if anything, even more odious than Gavin himself) is likelier than not to survive, as is LA’s Gascon (who will perhaps be on the ballot to be recalled in November); meanwhile, a supporter of BLM (Richardson) is running for mayor of Long Beach. No rational person should expect any good results from the no-longer-Golden-State.
I like Shellenberger. His views on climate change are very close to mine. He ought to win since he’s being very thoughtful and understands the complaints/problems of the people of California. Sadly, I don’t think he has a chance. I’m convinced the elections in California are rigged. It’s an authoritarian state and has been for some time now. I hope the voters in California prove me wrong. We’ll see.
I’ve heard Shellenberger several times on Tucker Carlson. He does not sound at all like a Democrat. At best, (or worst, depending on your point of view) he sounds red-pilled. All of which is to say California should be so lucky as to elect him to replace Gavin Newsom. I expect Newsom will have an unliminted war chest and lots of other “grey” support. Which makes me wonder, short of him being elected President, how CA will get rid of him.
The dems have CA all locked up; no matter how poorly they run that ship, they will get re-elected.
Think NYC or Baltimore or Chicago; there is no level of incompetence and ineptitude that will cause the voters to toss out the incumbents , or at best, just replace them with others equally inept and equally of the left.
When you have the billionaires of Silicon Valley tossing out gigantic sums of money for their favorite liberal progressive candidates, they could literally have one of their pet dogs elected as gov or for any elected position in CA
The ONLY hope for CA is for several / most of the counties in CA to separate themselves from the coastal counties and form a new state.
Of course, this will never happen so the status quo in CA will be retained.
Two conservative friends will vote for Shellenberger. And me too, so that’s three.
(Mr Dahle seems a decent guy and blessings on him for running this hopeless race.)
I was surprised that the 3 of us independently came to the same conclusion.
Perhaps there are hidden, not necessarily benign, forces at work …
I also voted for Shellenberger even though I’m still somewhat skeptical of him. I’m all in favor of changers being one myself but his conversion seems awfully recent. However the CA Republican Party is virtually a zombie entity at this point so it may take an outside-the-box candidate like Shellenberger to upset the narrative. He would definitely be more of a curveball to Newsom.
Those voting for Newsome, San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin and the rest of the democrats on the ballot think themselves in the right.
“There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” Proverbs 14:12
In refusing to acknowledge their thinking to be responsible for the grim results is where they condemn themselves.
j e, maybe one should start calling it the Pyrite State.
I voted for Shellenberger too.
I voted for Shellenberger because, as far as I can tell, he is to the right of Newsom and, of those to the right of Newsom, I think he has the best chance of beating him.
If some actual Republican running for California governor had appeared to be both (i) DeSantisian or Trumpian, and (ii) publicly known, I would have voted for that person.
Two of my friends also voted for Shellenberger. So, counting JimNorCal and his 2 friends, Shellenberger has SIX votes.
Well, what do I know?
Turns out, according to AP, Brian Dahle will be in the runoff election against Newsom. See,
https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/1534381613009842177
I hope all of conservatives can get behind Dahle–and show up at the polls.
Down goes boudin like the at at in empire
Shellenberger has/had no chance – it’s a two party system. (notwithstanding Perot & Ventura)
The Libertarian Party seems to have disappeared for this primary. (I’ve given up on Third Parties, despite better ideas.)
BUT, he could pull a Trump and become a (bigger hearted?) Republican and run for US Senate in 2024, or again for governor next time (2026; 4 years is not that far away) or both. Maybe Elon Musk is also prepping for something like this.
The political tribes are getting more polarized, and tribal, by design.
Knew several Weathermen sympathizers in high school and college. Rats, the lot of them. The USA would be a better place if Nixon did what the leftists claimed he was going to do to Chesa’s parents and foster parents in the 60s or 70s.
Harsh judgement, but that is my conclusion.
More like what the argentines did in the 70s some of them got away like gelman* the kirshners were associates shes back like a rash like hillary on hgh as vp
*counterpart to mark rudd
THE REAL SOLUTION is to contain the corrupt California Plan by Democrats to spread the State Unions Californication elsewhere. Stanch the infection and FORCE people to vote with their feet: MX buys her back by paying her federal welfare claims for the next 80 years, miunus US payments for certain naval and Air Force bases to use through the same period
The next President (Trump or DeSantis) must offer California to Mexico. START this debate in plain, honest terms.
Then the rest of the US will be forced to confront the Corruptocrats One-Party future, forever — and reject Californication tout court, or else embrace its piecemeal advance, abolishing any pro-capitalist and individualist American future.