It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that 2010 is shaping up to be a very good year for Republicans.  Every day there is another article that talks about it (here is today’s in The Hill) — and it should come as no shock to lawmakers of either party that the reason for this trend shift away from Democrats and to the GOP is because of overreach. 

Most of the political factors that go into voter decision-making are geared around the national political scene — where Democrats are reeling from a hard-left push.  Whether you look at Obamacare (and its significant costs), whether you look at the federal so-called "stimulus" spending which isn’t helping the private sector economy as much as it has been a boondoggle to support the public sector, or whether you look to efforts to create artificial government-created scarcities (like with the "cap and tax" proposal) — all of these things are driving moderate Democrats and independents away from the Donkey in droves.

What is impactful to voters on a state level?  Clearly the budget impasse and an economy that is reeling from our state’s mega-tax levels (Californians are amongst the highest-taxed people in America), and over-regulation.

That said, I can’t think of one piece of legislation that is in front of the legislature that would be more defining for California voters, in terms of judging the legislature, than AB 1998, the legislation that seeks to ban everyone’s favorite plastic grocery bags — and then impose a state-fee on paper bags, the proceeds of which go to grocery store owners (mostly large corporations).  I reviewed amendments to this bill — and they actually make the bill even less palatable (now there is a wealth-redistribution scheme inserted to take money from grocery shoppers through the bag tax and gift it to some manufacturing companies — as if in a recession we can make groceries more expensive).

One can figure that such an onerous measure, which amounts to a de facto massive tax increase on every Californian (well, at least those that shop in grocery stores!) and very Big Brother type intrusion into the relationship between grocery stores and their customers will come down to a partisan vote.  I can’t think of a single Republican legislator who thinks that passing a plastic grocery bag ban and implementing a new per-bag tax is an idea with any merit whatsoever.

The question is this — will moderate Democrats save themselves (word is that is the case), and their liberal colleagues?  If this bill becomes law, it will be a huge wedge issue for the electorate, and be a very public and obvious statement that the political problems that plague the majority in Washington, D.C., are shared by Sacramento Democrats as well…

So I guess the question for Democrats is this — are you a deer in the headlights?  If so, don’t look for sympathy when the voters drive right over you this November.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.