CA Says Hasta La Vista to the First, and Likely Last, Action Hero Governor
Outgoing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took the occasion of his final address to the Sacramento Press Club to jest about being the “second most famous immigrant in the history of California.” Meg Whitman’s maid, he joked, is first in line for this honor.
Self-deprecating humor may entertain the Sacramento elite but the governor’s record is no laughing matter. Today he leaves us with a $6 billion deficit that balloons to nearly $20 billion next year, and even the authenticity of these figures is dubious due to massive accounting gimmicks in Sacramento. Our credit rating is lower than that of a banana republic. The state budget is a bloated, red-ink-bleeding mess. Wealthy earners and young talent exit in droves, forced by an actual unemployment rate of 22%. Forty million dollars per day is being borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits as the state suffers from some of the worst economic conditions in the nation.
The scent of monumental decline is in the air, and the Schwarzenegger government has played a heavy hand in the mess.
Arnold assumed office riding high on rhetoric of cutting taxes, rescinding recalled Democratic Governor Gray Davis’s car registration tax hike, and returning the Golden State to its previous luster.
I think back to this time in the state’s political history as exciting. The mood of California was sour toward leadership and folks were ready for a change. Even liberal strongholds were disgusted with Sacramento and Davis. Above it all, here was a guy who emigrated from Austria (his accent to this day negates the need of a birth certificate as proof) in search of the American dream. He was getting a chance at the reins of the Golden State. Conan was poised to drive his liberal enemies before him, to the benefit of fed-up Californians.
He listed Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan as framers of his worldview. I recall William O’Neil of Investor’s Business Daily fame describing him as “tough under pressure” and “just what California needed.” I was in my mid-20s and operating a business here, and this endorsement from IBD’s founder certainly made me more enthusiastic. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association along with statewide tax groups also emphatically endorsed him before the election.
Starting out, he lived up to most of his promises to fiscal conservatives and libertarians. He slashed $150 million from the state budget, cut the onerous Davis “car tax” hike, took on the DMV, promised to go Terminator and “blow up the boxes” of Sacramento bureaucracy, and even instigated a political street fight with the powerful state unions. The latter surprised even me and I cheered it on. He seemed open to Cato Institute suggestions for the state economy and was even rated one of the few “A” governors by Cato in 2004. The Governator even welcomed the Reason Foundation’s suggestions for the state. It was almost like we had a leaner, buffed-out Chris Christie figure in our midst.
Maybe Governor Schwarzenegger was intelligent enough to realize that California is a lost cause? I left CA years ago for that exact reason.
Of the ~40,000,000 population most are leftists, half Latino and God knows how many illegals (10%?). Add to that some 1,000,000 Muslims …
I won’t cry when the Big One comes and mercifully relinquish the state to the Pacific Ocean.
I agree, Tim but there are a lot of good people stuck here at the moment too.
i agree; i still live here and will refuse to cave into the liberal “bluff”
most of the state is not involved and will vote without a clue as to the real issues and consequences
conservatives need to take this state back one house at a time
if conservatism takes back california the libs will never win a presidential election again
I was a donor to the Schwarzenegger campaign to oust Gray Davis. When they called next election cycle to see if I’d donate, I don’t think they were expecting me to unload on them like I did. Not only did they not call back, they dropped me from their mailing list.
I meant every word, though, and I wish they’d listened.
Ironic, isn’t it? The first Conan movie started with that quote from Nietsche: “That which does not kill you makes you stronger.” And now Ahnuld wanders off leaving a record bulked up with failure. Beaten by the unions, his wife, and God knows what else. And where’s California? Weaker and weaker.
But it was meant to be, and McClintock was right. In 2003 Shwarzenegger visited 50 rich RINOs in Sonoma County and came away with $250,000. Hope they got their money’s worth. The Sonoma County Republican Party (which found and fielded candidates, did the GOTV work, etc.) wasn’t invited to the wine-and-sleaze. SEIU learned about Ahnuld’s visit before the Repubs did.
Speaking of SEIU, and the fat lot of good Muscle Boy did in Sacto, the head of one of their largest locals was heard often in 2005 promising that Shwarzenegger would buckle before his union’s strength. Little nebbishy guy. Well, he was right. Now he can ask Obama to figure out how to pay for it.
Arnold ultimately could not carry the day in a state that has so changed demographically – to be majority Hispanic by 2030, and with so many Eastern leftists having moved in over 40 years, that the GOP will never, ever, ever again be a force in the state. It is now a one party Socialist state, where the Marxists control everything – legislature, governorship, courts, media, public schools, universities and the arts.
It is now almost as totalitarian as the old USSR was, and Republicans stay at their own risk — they risk losing property, freedom, even life and limb eventually. They are soon going to be in as much danger as are the Jews in Europe.
California is finished. It will never, ever allow the reforms needed to save itself. The collapse is inevitable. It is now only a question of when it goes bankrupt, when law and order breaks down, and when Spanish replaces English as the official language, resulting in a secession of the state.
I will go Bosnia-Serb if California leaves the Union. I hope the rest of the country will come in like Gen. Sherman to help me.
It’s a race to see which collapses first — California or the federal government. If the latter, secession is irrelevant as there will be nothing to secede from. If the former, the rest of the country will say “Goodbye and good riddance” to the Granola State (fruits, nuts and flakes) while joyfully cutting the appropriate star out of the flag.
Either way, California will ultimately split in two as the northern half refuses to become a de facto part of Mexico.
This Mexican-American Conservative Christian Californian agrees and is out the door after the new year. This is a sinking ship and I don’t plan to be on it when it goes down. Texas, here I come!
Just shows you what happens when a politician abandons his or her conservative roots. This is a great example of what happened to the RINO Republicans in Congress. When Republicans try to look like a light version of Democrats, they always do very, very, badly. To me, Arnold Schwarzenegger betrayed all of his core, conservative, values and thought he would get farther in California if he just turned into a European socialist, which is probably what he really is (considering that’s where he came from). He is a lesson in what Republicans should NOT do when in office. Fortunately, he won’t BE BAAAAACK.
I would say, the *second* action hero governor.
His friend Jesse Ventura got there first.
I not so proudly must correct you. I believe that Jesse Ventura was the first action-hero governor (of sorts). Although he didn’t single handedly ruin Minnesota, he did view his office as little more than a personal business venture. Before those bearing gifts.
Jesse was the first in the nation, Arnold was the first (and last) in California. I think that both men view their positions as part of their business ventures/career advancement. Venture, by the way, is a complete moonbat, years removed from office. I think back to his tenure and actually liked a lot of his positions (taxes, gun control, etc.), now he sounds like a fringe leftist….
I agree he gave up after the disastrous proposition failure, but there is another way of seeing it.
The people of California had spoken.
They didn’t want fiscal responsibility or to act like grown ups in the face of economic realities. They wanted cake, cake, and more cake. They wanted it to make themselves feel noble on their way to the spa, when they passed bum after bum on the street. They wanted to be the beacon of European liberalism in a country of Texans.
After Proposition 23 failed this last election, I realized as clear as day, that it isn’t the politicians we need to blame for the current disaster that is California. It is the people of this state who elect them. The people of California have always gotten just the politicians we wanted, and the policies that we wanted. California is proof of the old adage: you get the politicians you deserve.
California got Schwarzenegger, and before him Davis, we didn’t deserve any better.
We are going to get a 15-20% top state income tax rate in California. Massive DMV fees, 11-12% state sales tax. California is under full democratic control now. Everything will go except for the perks of the State Employees Unions. We might even get welfare cuts to preserve the state employee gravy train.
California has huge subsidized communities. One third of the nations welfare cases are in California. When this hits the wall it will be ugly.
It’s just a question of the bond market. Who the hell is buying California bonds? You’re bond money is paying welfare for illegals. What kind of investment is that?
Issa for Gov 2014.
Like a lot of Republicans in 2003, my heart was with Tom McClintock. He spoke truth to power and is a true Conservative. I went against my best judgment and voted for Arnold because of the specter of Cruz Bustamente and La Rosa lurking on the Democratic side of the election. I was afraid to split the vote between Arnold and McClintock and let Bustamente in the back door.
Wall Street decided to finance the $15 billion budget shortfall soon after Arnold’s election. However, the Assembly voted to LEVERAGE the bond proceeds and spend the money on new “programs” instead of balancing the budget. I knew then that the State’s goose was cooked and that the Democrats were not serious about fiscal responsibility.
I realized then that Grey Davis hadn’t been the problem but rather the San Francisco Spendocrats who knew they could ultimately control the rookie new governor. Arnold made the wrong move by doubling down with all his proposed changes in 2005, at a time when voters were exhausted from the recall in 2003 and the regular elections in 2004. Arnold’s timing was bad. It was too much to ask to get a big turnout on such critical issues. The special interests rolled him and the battle was lost.
I voted for Arnold in 2006, I had nowhere else to go. It was difficult to foresee he would be such a castrated cat and demonstrate that he was really over his head in dealing with Fortress Assembly on fiscal matters. That he succumbed to Marie’s pillow talk and he donned the costume of the Liberal Bleeding Heart made his demise that much more squalid.
Now Gov. Moonbeam is back and its deja vu all over again. No thanks, I went through his administration the first time. I’ll watch the agony from my new and fiscally responsible abode in Texas. After a lifetime of California sunshine and Leftist Lunacy, the trail dust of the Conservative Lone Star state is a welcome relief.
I agree with Ann in LA.
If Arnold’s redistricting initiative had passed, that would have been a good move for fairness.
Bankruptcy will wake up some, but we have no other way out. The Feds can print money but the state cannot- ha, and no more handouts from DC come next year.
The new redistricting measure certainly will bring back fairness, but how much time do we have, this process grinds slowly.
Tim, et al,
“Even liberal strongholds were disgusted with Sacramento and Davis.”
You know, when Arnold got de-nutted by the Public [non]Service Unions and the Cal Teacher’s Ass’n propositions way back when, the running joke was to recall Arnold and re-insert Davis as governor.
..doesn’t seem so funny now.
At this late date if someone shoved a Recall Schwarzenegger in front of me I would sign.
Dagney, I went against my better judgement as well in not voting for McClintock.
Tim, that 2005 special election was a huge tactical blunder. Though I agreed with every single provision, Arnold overplayed his hand and the left was very effectively able to portray it as a right-wing power grab.
He got his rear end kicked and unfortunately retreated into the ideological arms of his wife’s family.
Good Riddance!!! Unfortunately the next governor is going to be a disaster too. POOR CALIFORNIA!
You voted him in, maybe if he hadn’t been married to someone related to
the Kennedy’s it may have been different.
Anyway, best of luck for the future. But when countries get so big, it is
hard to keep control over illegal immigrants, etc.
Well, I heard Dennis Prager on the radio reflecting on the recent election in CA. He compared the people of CA to the poor souls on the Titanic– with one big difference. The people on the Titanic didn’t vote TO HIT the iceberg….
“…they didn’t vote to hit the iceberg…”
and the Mariner’s Code insured that all available help would come; which will not happen when the Good Ship Kaleefornia slips silently beneath the waves. The only code among the political insiders is:
I’ve got mine Baby, you’re on your own!