In a week and a half, FR San Diego Contributor Barry Jantz and I will be traveling to Sacramento to hear the Governor deliver his State of the State Address. When we are there, we will be listening
carefully for Arnold Schwarzenegger to remind us why we recalled Gray Davis, and elected the Terminator to head up our State Government.
Media-spin going into this big speech is that the Governor is going to embrace the Democrats in some sort of "let’s grow government" love-fest that includes tens of billions of dollars in borrowing, and a notable tack to the political center.
(Lest anyone forget, Arnold is already in the political center, as a fiscal conservative and socially liberal Governor. Yes, those items he pushed in the Special Election represented his fiscally conservative views, but that is because the legislature already embraces his socially liberal views.)
As conservatives, we will be there, waiting to hear if the speech that is given is one that tells the GOP base voters (the ones that drove the recall election in the first place) that the Governor’s election-year agenda will still be to champion limited-government and free-market solutions as a way to keep the California economy healthy.
The legislature is as dysfunctional as ever – and the very same special interest groups that want to grow government to grow their coffers – still control the Democrat leadership with an iron hand. The legislative leadership has never believed in "Living Within Their Means" and they will not start now. As a matter of fact, their leftist ideology is just find with the idea of deficit spending for their various causes. We are counting on the Governor to reinforce his ongoing theme of fiscal restraint, and match his rhetoric with action, and prudent use of the veto pen in 2006.
Barry and I can promise you one thing — a fair and honest critique of the address (I’m sure that you will hear much from our team on this important speech).
PS: In case you missed it, there is an interesting story in the Los Angeles Times today, "Rough Terrain for Governor in 2006," that you may want to read.