I think most observers would agree that the re-election of Governor Schwarzenegger is important to the Republican Party in California. While I generally think of him more often than not as a populist rather than a straight partisan, and regularly disagree with some of his decisions, more often than not he acts as a bulwark against the anti-business interests which dominate both houses of the California legislature.
While it’s often more exciting and certainly more emotional to discuss Sacramento’s actions on issues like gay marriage, or illegal immigration, or getting rid of Indian names in local sports teams, the truth of the matter is that give or take 98% of the legislation that works its way through the legislature is business related, education related, or purely symbolic or honorary rubbish. Generally, as soon as this Governor was elected, much of the most crazed left-wing anti-business bills stopped being written, or started perishing in committee. This is not to say that some bad bills did not make it through the process, and that he didn’t even sign some of them into law, but the raw flood of anti-business legislation that I experienced in the legislature first-hand under one party rule during the early part of this century ended with the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This being said, there is something even more important for the future of California than the preservation of either the Republican Party or the business community: re-establishing the credibility of our political system as a whole.
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