|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
2010: California's Ballot Initiative Thunderdome
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Container
|
| Contributor | Bob Sacamano |
| Last Edited | Bob Sacamano Jan 02, 2010 12:04am |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | Blog Entry |
| Author | Robert Cruickshank |
| News Date | Friday, January 1, 2010 11:25:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | A new year and a new decade are upon us, as is a new election year. But 2010 isn't going to be just any old election year in California. After spending 2009 watching state and national politics oriented around defending the status quo, we are finally starting to see the emergence of a politics oriented around change, spurred on by the most severe political and economic crisis since the American conquest.
The result is that 2010 will be the most important, consequential, and decisive elections in a long time in California. While there are interesting and significant races for elected office that will be decided, it's the ballot initiatives that really matter. Proposals from across the political spectrum will likely be on the November 2010 ballot in particular, setting up a major contest between right, left and corporate center to determine the future of this state at a pivotal moment in its history.
Even though it's still unclear which initiatives will be on the ballot, with 51 initiatives in circulation and 37 pending at the Attorney General's office, a significant number of which will likely make the ballot, it's clear that the initiative process is still the primary path by which genuine change happens in this state.
And as we'll see, it's a path that is controlled not by the people, but by those with access to the large sums of money needed to get the signatures and qualify the initiative for the ballot. Many of the initiatives we'll see on the November 2010 ballot will involve large corporations trying to use the state's crisis to change the law, or even the constitution, to further empower and enrich themselves. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
