Soon after my first election to the Assembly in 1992, I was frustrated and lost. I felt like my activity in the Legislature was an exercise in futility. I had great ideas for change (or at least I thought they were great ideas), but I soon discovered that the Legislative Committees were structured for the specific purpose of killing popular ideas that did not serve the interests of the Democrat majority in the Legislature. Bills to put bad guys in jail? Poof, dead in a lopsided Democrat majority in the ironically named “Public Safety Committee.” Bills to make it easier to create jobs in California? Butchered in the misnamed “Labor and Employment” committee (it should have been named the Union and Unemployment Committee, since the committee was completely controlled by the union hacks that still dominate the California Legislature, who don’t care if you have a job, they only care enough to force the jobs on Californians that pay those hacks union dues). And so on…pick a committee, it was dominated by legislators whose only job was to protect the selfish interests of the Democrat constituency groups. What’s an idealistic young legislator to do when his or her entire effort only yields futility?
I then read an article named “Isaiah’s Job” written by Albert Jay Nock, a free market economist of the early 20th century, in the Freeman Magazine, a free market publication of the time In that article, the author recites God’s command to Isaiah whose job it was, in God’s words, to encourage the remnant. God planned a revival of Israel through that remnant, and it was Isaiah’s job to preach the word of God to that remnant to “keep them in the game” so to speak to get ready for that revival. God made it clear to Isaiah that he was not going to win the battle (God was), but that was not his job, Isaiah’s job was to let the remnant know that there was hope, and to keep up the fight.
For me, that was reason enough to stay in the battle in Sacramento. If the only reason God placed me there was to be a source of hope and encouragement for right thinking Californians, I could live with that. The revelation was freeing for me. I didn’t have to win the war, I only had to remain faithful to the fight…And I did. In my 14 years as a legislator, I went anywhere I was needed and talked to anyone willing to listen about why the message of economic freedom, small government, and strong families and communities was right, not just for California, but for the entire nation.
I get a sense that many of my conservative friends are at the point of despair here in California. I suggest you start with “Isaiah’s Job” (just Google it, it is worth the read), and get your head on straight about what your role in politics is supposed to be. If you are a person of faith, then staying faithful and in the game is your job. I will let you in on a secret, I have read the last chapter of the Book, our side wins, but we are not the instruments of that victory. God is. Our job is to remain faithful, to remain confident in the rightness of our cause, and to stay in the fight. A revival will occur in California, as long as we stay faithful to our role in that revival.
I am not going to simply give platitudes and leave it at that. Over the next several days, I am going to lay out a concrete plan of action that I believe is necessary to take back California. But I understand that California will come back, and the revival will occur not on the time schedule I set out. All I can do is remain faithful to what I know to be right. The rest is out of my hands.
We are now just a little over a year from the next election that will change California. We know it needs to change, and we can do our part to bring about that change, as long as we keep up the fight. One year…the fight for the revival of California begins today. We need to engage in the battle now.