Ah, summer is here, and primary season is full upon us. A ballot with interesting propositions and some fresh names – democracy in action – it’s our heritage as a free people, preserved by the selfless service of the many fallen citizens honored so beautifully at Monday’s ceremony at the Veteran’s Cemetery.
One name we like seeing on the ballot is Joanne Sanders, and we’re supporting her in her Democratic Party primary campaign to run for the California State Senate in November. She has been forthcoming in her frustration with the lack of vision and verve repeatedly demonstrated by the Republican Party in the state and nationally, a frustration we understand and share. She hopes the Democrats can better deliver on that party’s lofty ideals, though frankly, we’d given up on them, too, some time ago.
The problem is that, as the old adage says, power corrupts. Surely the evidence is overwhelming. Power inflates the ego; it persuades those with power that their decisions are better than others’ – that they know better how other people should live, should work, and should spend their money. This happens at all levels of government, which is why the Sun has long argued against pay for elected representatives, even or perhaps especially at the local city council level. When being an elected representative becomes a career – spending other people’s money – then the added influence of personal gain only speeds the corruptive influence of power.
That’s why it’s important to send new blood into government, and to do so in significant quantities. We need more representatives who have run a private business, who have earned a living in commerce by meeting the needs of others, who know what it’s like to be an employer, who have borne the burdens of taxation and regulation.
Sanders is just such new blood. She’s not of the political class. She knows what it’s like for the rest of us, so let’s get her to Sacramento and put her to work for us.
Now in her second term as elected member of the Sonoma City Council, she continues to show a genuine concern for the principles of representative government. She shies away from undue exercise of government power. She respects the concerns of her constituents. And she is bright, which means she grasps easily the nature of legislation and can anticipate possible consequences, intended or unintended.
And Sanders brings blood not just new, but hot. She is willing to be unpopular in her adherence to principle, rather than deference to expediency. Would that we had such characteristics in all our representatives.
It’s tough to see the enormous and growing reach of the federal government, to see the ineptitude in Sacramento that has led the state literally into financial ruin, and not be discouraged. That’s one of the reasons we’re supporting Proposition 14, which would open primaries in California. Rather than the political party affairs they are today, candidates from all parties would compete to earn one of two positions on the November ballots.
Is this a grand solution for our public woes? Of course not. Is it a step in the right direction? Perhaps.
Recall that the two-party system was not a part of the original founding of this nation. In fact until the passage of the Twelfth Amendment, the vice-president was merely the runner-up in the presidential voting and so was often of different political leanings. This system was changed in 1804 to sequential balloting, first for president and then again for vice president, facilitating the growth of our present two-party system.
We voters don’t often get the chance to reshape government, and we don’t hold any illusions that this proposition is such a chance. However, the candidates presented to us on the November ballots often have little to distinguish themselves from each other. Proposition 14 may help to change that.
Whatever you think on these and other issues, remember that it’s your VOTE that counts. Don’t fail to cast it!
