Platform for Marc Valdez

By Marc Philip Valdez

Positions on a number of issues affecting California

This election is likely the first of a new trend in American politics, featuring snap elections and larger menus of candidates. More choices and shorter election periods can make the Internet-informed voter and officeholder both more alert and more responsible, virtues Democrats should encourage.

I was asked by a good friend to justify why Gray Davis should be recalled. After all, Davis, at great effort and expense, fairly won the election for Governor last year. Some of the methods Davis employed (e.g., his pre-emptive attacks on Riordan) may not have been the most sporting, but he played the political game as he found it. If the rules of the political game can be altered so readily by a dissatisfied faction (dittohead Republicans this time), or even by a few isolated millionaires able to pay for recall signatures, then what is to prevent another recall in short order?

Let me be the first to state that Gray Davis is certainly a capable politician. By far, he is the best fund raiser the state has ever seen. But ultimately, raising money is not his job. His job is to govern. His timidity in dealing with the power crisis when it first raised its ugly head in December, 2000, followed by his panic the following summer, did not give the electorate much confidence in his governing abilities. The electorate preferred Davis over Simon last year, but the simple magnitude of the budget deficit this year has really shaken their confidence.

I suspect we won't see more recalls soon, provided each of the two major parties are free to choose their own candidates without undue interference from the other party. Nevertheless, the Governor must meet a certain minimum level of performance, including being able to evade the machinations of dissatisfied factions, and failure to do so will inevitably bring a recall on.

Proposition 13

The shift away from property taxes to income taxes that Proposition 13 made necessary has introduced instability into state finances, since income is generally more volatile than the value of property. Today, as so clearly illustrated by the $38 billion deficit, following hard on the heels of the 90's boom surplus, we are reaping that whirlwind of volatility.

As part of a concerted effort to correct the state's finances, we need an initiative calling for the repeal of Proposition 13. In addition, we need a concerted effort to go on Talk Radio and explain to the conservative true believers why that might be necessary - so the state gets stability again, which the mid-70's legislature foolishly lost by not paying attention then to accelerating property tax rates. I would make available low or deferred payment home equity loans (underwritten by the state), loans that would allow taxpayers to pay property taxes no matter what their income levels are. By implementing an improved property tax system, featuring various circuit-breakers that limit rapid increases in property taxes when property values soar, the tax system can be made more stable. Income taxes for the rich can be reduced, with income taxes for corporations increased in compensation.

An example of the weird effect of Proposition 13 on California politics: despite ideological solidarity, it's no longer in the economic interest of young conservatives to favor keeping Proposition 13, just so that older conservatives can benefit. Warren Buffett noticed the problem. Someday (and may that day be - now!), everyone else will too.

State vs. Counties

It's time for Sacramento to start devolving more of its powers, and the money streams that support them, back to various localities. After all, some California counties have populations that exceed that of many states, and it may well be that that is where authority best resides. Chains of authority are currently weak and confused in California State Government - a constitutional convention may be required. It's time to sort them out.

H1B and L1 Visas

Hundreds of thousands of technology service sector workers have been laid off and replaced by imported workers through the H-1B and L1 nonimmigrant visa program and offshore outsourcing. The abuse of the nonimmigrant visa programs continues to accelerate. In the Bay Area, unemployment benefits paid to laid-off IT workers already roughly equals the salaries of the H-1B workers. The economic damage caused by these destructive practices is passed on to the taxpayer in the form of unemployment benefits, while the replacement laborers are paid below the levels they would otherwise merit. The American habit of farming jobs overseas, with all those precious skills, causes income tax shortfalls, foreclosures, bankruptcies, and prolongs the recession in California. Whether as taxpayers or workers, we all suffer from the callous actions of the multinationals, aided and abetted by the Congress and the White House. It's time to fight back!

Education

So many interest groups are meddling in education that the only real solution to education's problems is a radical one: get everybody out of the classroom and restore the authority of teachers to set their own agenda. Starting around 1969, first in big cities like New York, and then nationwide, teachers were brought to heel and forced to respond to "community" concerns. That sounds idealistic enough, but remember that communities are full of individuals who have mutually-exclusive agendas. Whipsawed by clashing priorities (driver's ed, safety concerns, inappropriate censorship, civil rights concerns, lawsuits), demoralized teachers lost their will to resist. Education got dumbed down - in California, particularly in the decade of the 1980's.

Students need to be educated first to be individuals capable of thinking for themselves, so they can join their communities as strong, independent-minded people, not enthralled to hand-me-down thinking. The first role of education, then, is to show students different ways of thinking, beyond the thinking in whatever parochial community they were born into. This is a process that does not 'take a village.' When the 'village' comes calling, wondering why Johnny is reading Huckleberry Finn, the teacher must send the village away. No matter how many good people a community has, their collective impulses are usually bad for education.

Teachers owe their loyalty first to their discipline, then to their students (and their students' parents). Secondary loyalties are owed to their fellow teachers and educational institution, and if they choose to join, their union. Community concerns are tertiary. Getting the hierarchy of loyalties right is important, because teachers are human beings, after all, and can't be expected to be all things to all people. Once the authority of teachers is restored, they will, of their own volition, increase academic standards.

According to teachers I've talked to, only standards-based assessment is actually useful: for example, making sure grade levels across the state correspond to each other. Other assessment programs are pointless. There is no need for further statewide testing programs, which only serve, after all, to increase the petty power of remote bureaucrats over a vital, but intensely personal process - learning.

MediCal

Similar to education's problems, medical aid to the indigent suffers from energy-eroding micro-management. Time to trust the doctors more.

Affirmative Action

I'm skeptical about the importance of affirmative action: it has never played much of a role in my education, for example. Of far greater importance is keeping grants and low-income loans available for educational purposes.

Worker's Compensation and Disability

Reform is urgently required. Costs have doubled in the last three years. A system where the amount reimbursed for each doctor's visit is capped, yet the number of visits is not capped, cannot long survive when health costs continue to accelerate. Some of the reforms under consideration in the legislature would help, but maybe not enough: savings of 20% per year are not adequate when costs are rising at 30% per year.

Most Worker's Disability claims are filed by women office workers, an unlikely population for on-the-job injuries, suggesting that either the office workplace is more hazardous than we generally think, or many dubious claims are being filed. Additional authority for the Worker's Disability bureaucracy to reject dubious claims may be required.

Environment (Air Quality)

For the first time in four years, in 2003, air quality in California has declined. Technological improvements are not keeping up with the real world, where more people drive more miles every year. The state's current air quality bureaucracy has divided its efforts into so many directions that progress is uncertain and halting everywhere. Some decisiveness is required to restore progress. Hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles should be promoted. Improved inspection and maintenance programs and expanded vehicle scrappage programs should do much to improve air quality. Electric vehicles (poor battery performance) and hydrogen power (significant safety issues) should be junked.

I am very skeptical about the power of governments to deal with global warming issues by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Oil is to the economy what vodka is to the alcoholic - efforts to limit consumption by self-denial will be met by violent opposition. Technological improvements in the economy are the only way to moderate consumption, short of using up all the oil in the world.

Environment (The Living World)

The most urgent environmental job in California is habitat protection. Every other environmental concern is secondary. That's why I support the California Coastal Commission, despite its reputation for heavy-handedness - once nature is despoiled, it's very hard to bring it back.

Crime and Prisons

Prison times for small-time drug offenders, particularly those convicted of possessing small amounts of marijuana, are too long. Let's bring back the power of the pardon, responsibly used.

Death Penalty

The death penalty is OK with me, but I'm sympathetic with the position that the death penalty makes errors in the judicial system MORE, not less, likely (see the 'Thin Blue Line'.)

Abortion and Related Issues

I'm pro-choice. Nevertheless, there are problems in the abortion sphere. For example, Roe vs. Wade was an unnecessary intervention by the (liberal) Supreme Court into state practices that were already moving piecemeal to a pro-choice position in the early 70's. Pro-life groups would have found organizing resistance to liberal abortion laws much more difficult in the 70's if it had been made clearer through the democratic political system that pro-life positions were actually fairly unpopular, which would have happened had not the Supreme Court short-circuited the process. Instead, outrage about constitutional over-reach combined with outrage over abortion to reinvigorate the conservative political movement.

This year, the (conservative) Supreme Court appears to have overreached again in its recent ruling regarding homosexual behavior, this time putting such behavior completely out of the state's control. Normally, that would be fine by me, but there are extreme instances that are not hard to imagine (e.g., an uncontrollable outbreak of a new, contagious, sexually-transmitted disease) where the state might have a compelling interest in regulating sexual conduct, including homosexual conduct. So, the Supremes, whether liberal or conservative, tend to express their power with unwarranted interferences in the political process.

Gun Control

I think gun control should be implemented on a local basis, based on local sentiment. If rural areas want guns, fine, and if central cities want to ban them, fine. I do not worship at the shrine of the 2nd Amendment - I do not believe there is an inalienable right to own arms (although my sister, an NRA member, disagrees).

Infrastructure

We aren't doing enough to keep up with the demands that our population places on our highways, canals, etc. We have to do more work, with the same amount of money, or even less.

Casinos

There are two kinds of models for casino expansion: the Las Vegas model, where outsiders are flown in, fleeced, and then sent back home before they become public embarrassments, and the South Carolina model, where video poker is promoted in populations that live near the casinos - people who can't simply be sent away when they crash and burn. Even ten years ago, the few casinos open in California were located in rural areas only, where the influx of money at least raised local living standards - basically, the Las Vegas model. With the latest wave of casino expansion (one example being the new $280 million Thunder Valley casino near Roseville, with its rapidly-growing retirement population sitting like fat sheep just a few miles away), California is abandoning the Las Vegas model and endorsing the South Carolina model. How stupid! And all because only urban and suburban casinos can deliver that crack cocaine of politics, money, fast enough to keep politicians satiated! It's interesting to note that Cruz Bustamante has received campaign contributions (totalling over $1 million over the last decade) from Tribal Casino interests.

Indian Health Care

Casino profits have yet to penetrate to the tribal health care level. It's important to enhance, not cut, Indian health care.

Illegal Immigration

There is no issue on which people are more hypocritical than illegal immigration. Mexican immigrants persuade themselves they're only going to be in the U.S. a few years, when it should be clear they are here for keeps. Employers use middlemen to shield themselves from the knowledge that their employees are illegals. And people like myself just like paying low wages, while nevertheless carping about illegals taking jobs. It's time to "get real" and accomodate ourselves to the knowledge that immigration is here to stay, to regulate it more effectively, and just get along with our southern neighbors. I favor drivers' licenses for illegals, but only if the licenses clearly indicate the illegal status of the holders of the licenses. In other words, let's start acknowledging reality for a change.