[There is no Sunday Commentary – enjoy your day — but I will leave up this important Commentary from Saturday in case you haven’t read it! – Flash]
It’s time for a course-correction. I understand that the strategy for the Governor to be re-elected this 
November includes firmly planting his flag in the political center and holding his ground — with conservatives holding their noses at some of his policy moves, as the specter of a Phil Angelides’ Governorship is too much to bear. Relative to conservatives, that strategy is working to some extent (look at me, I have said a hundred times on this page that I am supporter Schwarzenegger for re-election). But lately I have noticed that among many of my conservative friends who are involved in politics, the enthusiasm and energy is waning. Oh, these friends will vote. And by and large they will vote for Schwarzenegger (one told me yesterday he was going to write in Tom McClintock). But the enthusiasm to get out that and charge the hill for Schwarzenegger lessens with each shift to the left. I know that there are smart strategists at Team Arnold, who get to calculate the trade-offs between increases in electoral support in this Democrat-plurality-state by being a Republican who embraces many liberal positions versus the negative impact that this will have on grassroots conservative and Republican donors and activists.
That said, more and more I feel like the Governor’s quest to firmly stake out the middle ground is flawed because, frankly, the ‘middle’ is being overshot. That is to say that Phil Angelides is soooo liberal (like to the point of absurdity) that he (Angelides) is redefining the political middle. There is nothing "middle ground" about supporting tens of billions of dollars in government borrowing to support subsidized housing, urban planning, and massive expansion of government lands through parkland acquisition. There is certainly nothing "middle ground" about support for command-government mandating of prescription drugs prices (check the news today). Add to this recent opposition to a common sense proposal to put decisions about offshore drilling in the hands of state governments, strong advocacy of rewarding the illegal entry of foreign nationals by supporting a ‘guest worker’ program instead of employer sanctions and an end to government benefit for lawbreakers, and a steady tide of liberal Democrats coming into the Administration (I recently read that a press-aide to whacky-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is now in the Governor’s press office). Well, I could go on.
The point that I am trying to make is that somewhere the ‘middle ground’ shifted from moderate to left-of-center, and I think it may be, like I said, because Angelides is so far to the left that the Governor is filling the gap, and charging in to gain as much support from Democrats as possible. This may ultimately be a sound strategy for gaining re-election, but at the end of the day, it will make for poor public policy in terms of doing what is right for the people of California. It is the embrace of liberal ideas and philosophies for decades by Sacramento politicians that have created a modern welfare state in California for millions of people.
On a lot of key issues, Governor Schwarzenegger is in line with the core principles of his Republican Party – especially on his opposition to new or higher taxes or fees. But if we are going to be a party that stands for limited government, as well as freedom and liberty for our citizens — then we must urge our elected officials (including our Governor) to embrace free-market solutions and fight to reduce, not increase, the size and scope of government.
I am still supporting Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor. As his campaign manager Steve Schmidt likes to point out, the contrast between Schwarzenegger and Angelides is stark. That said, as a conservative who believes that at his core, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a libertarian thinker, the politics of this campaign lately seem to be moving the Governor closer to the philosophies of Pat Brown instead of Ronald Reagan. As Reagan said, "Man is not free unless government is limited."
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