Michael Krasny's Forum program is providing a real educational resource for Californians who are trying to decide how they will vote in November on crucial Propositions, by hosting informative and measured debates between Proposition proponents and opponents and also opening the floor to pertinent questions from interested listeners. Here are two recently archived debates on Propositions that have been especially controversial so far.
Proposition 23: Seeking to relax state environmental regulations, presumably to improve employment. [I will be voting against this Proposition in November.]
Proposition 19: Seeking to make California the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. [I will be voting for this Proposition in November.]
If you are a citizen of California you have a responsibility to understand the issues, make up your own mind, and then vote accordingly in November. I never fail to be amazed at the number of Californians who are well informed and invested in national politics but utterly ignorant and complacent about the politics of our state. Given the size and influence of our economy and hence the national impact of our regulations and public investments, not to mention our role as a leader producing legislative pilot programs that will soon enough find their way to the national stage, I think Californians must grasp that it is as Californians that we are privileged to impact the nation's politics most of all.
If California continues on our renewable energy path, waving off the scare tactics of a petro-chemical industry that fancies itself representative of the economy as such rather than the economy's deadly past, we will enable the nation to do the same, just as a success for Big Oil would be yet another setback at yet another layer of governance in the face of the most urgent planetary problem our generation faces. So too California has a chance to turn the tide in the disastrous failed racist War on Drugs by legalizing and taxing the already widespread recreational use of marijuana, to redirect our police resources to violent crimes and harm reduction and away from puritanical hysteria and the enabling of crimelords.
These aren't the only Propositions on the ballot in November, indeed I don't think they are even the most important ones -- the Propositions this time around represent a likely generational inflection point in national politics in my view, a potential nail in the coffin of anti-tax anti-government Movement Republicanism -- and I will continue to talk about them in the weeks to come, and hope to direct your attention to resources to help you make up your own minds about the issues involved.
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