2003-09-06|2:24 p.m.
I recently sent all the Californians I know a petition to rescind the recall law in our state, so that this debacle would never have to cost us millions of much needed dollars again. I was ballsy enough to send it to a republican/marine I know. K is smart and straightforward. So, it was a bit unsurprising to receive an unhappy response back within the same week I sent him the email. He had this to say:
�I can not believe that you sent me this. You know that I am all about the Republican. Davis has ruined the economy of this state and needs to move his ass out of office and be replaced by a candidate whose decisions will not be swayed greatly by donations. Someone where the car tax is as ridiculous as in my mind. Davis can not run this state and needs to leave, his era is over and move over baby, we need a gun toting man.�
So, I responded:
I am sorry I sent that to you, if it was at all insulting. In fact, I did not see the request as being partisan issue. Many republicans and democrats see the process as a perversion of the constitutional democracy in which our state and county run their election processes. The recall law in CA is basically a law left on the legislative books at a time when CA was still very young and unstable. Cowboy mentality still ruled. Now, that we�ve long established ourselves as a functional constitutional democracy, the law is obsolete. However, like many other states, because of the costliness of rescinding laws, many absurd laws still remain on the books. I think it�s NC or somewhere where carrying paper sack lunches on the sidewalk is technically still illegal. Laws like these are understandably un-enforced.
Like the Jim Crow laws of the South, many laws are created and upheld manipulatively in spite of the greater law of the land: the Constitution. The same rings true for the recall law and its recent application. November last year we voted for a governor, good or bad, and unless we are to impeach him, under our functional constitutional democracy, we are to tough it out. When we start to disrespect the process itself, the functional becomes chaotic and we lose what we�ve worked so long to preserve.
I find it interesting the same legitimate concerns you and many others have for CA�s economic state are easily applied to the nation as a whole. Bush �has ruined the economy of this [nation] state� and is �swayed greatly by donations.� Yet, out of the respect of the process itself, and I think that many would agree, that recalling Bush would be a perversion of our constitutional democracy and the terms that it so clearly establishes. And, as you know, I REALLY don�t like the guy. Yet, this isn�t about who is what party. It�s about respect for our country and its functioning processes.