Millennial Politicians Are Coming

Much has been written about the meteoric rise of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in the past year (now affectionally referred to as “AOC”). She was an outsider, a political unknown who was able to knock off an establishment political figure in what should have been a cakewalk primary for him. After that, she was pretty much guaranteed ascendance to a Congressional seat.

Now, as much as political pundits like to make fun of AOC and her ideals. Her lack of common economic sense and ability to account for money that the United States simply does not have does not stop her from promising the world to her constituency. Combine that with her incessant need to be trending on social media as Congress’s first social media influencer, her bold ideas and half baked solutions are a harbinger of something more troublesome that is happening in politics.

The truth of the matter is that for as much as Botox as she injects into her face, political figures like Nancy Pelosi can’t live forever. If that were true they would have pumped so much Botox into the notorious RBG that she wouldn’t have been able to open her mouth to ask any questions during oral arguments.

No, the fact of the matter is that the Pelosi’s of the current political landscape won’t last forever, and eventually, over time new figures will rise and take her spot.

One thing is for certain, we should not treat AOC as a political anomaly. She is not a blip or a random occurrence. No, AOC is a merely a sign of things to come.

AOC is the first of what will most likely be many more millennial political figures. She is the product of the millennial culture and we see it in her policy arguments. She proposes that someone else pay for her health care, her income, and her housing. She takes academia and tries to shoehorn it into the real world. Whether they are practical or not, her logic is a product of growing up in a time when life was pretty easy for Americans. Millennials grew up not knowing a bad economy. Only to be shocked into reality during their formative teenage years by a recession that was brought on by the banks, and subsequently bailed out by the government. It’s the equivalent of one child telling a parent it’s not fair that they won’t buy them a car because they had to bail out their older sibling for getting in trouble.

Think about her answer when asked about how she’s going to pay for her ambitious social programs.

“You just pay for it.”

This answer reeks of an entitled attitude of a millennial who thinks their parents have unlimited funds to pay for anything.

Think about a similar exchange with a millennial asking their parents for a new car and then being asked how they were going to pay for it.

“You just pay for it.”

The scary part of this attitude is that AOC thinks she is completely justified in believing that the U.S can just “pay for it.” The truth is the U.S government is still enormously in debt. We are running deficits every year in spending. To simply believe that we “just pay for it” is naive of the real world. It speaks to a bigger problem with millennial politicians who will start entering government.

The Kim Kardashian of Politics

This article is not meant to be a specific hit piece on AOC. Lord knows there are enough of those out there. But there is something bigger here that we should be worried about. Millennial politicians are coming, and they are going to emulate AOC because she speaks their language. She is constantly on social media “clapping back” at her detractors. She pulls stunts in Congress to get more air time on networks like CNN and MSNBC. Her constant need to be the Kim Kardashian of Congress is something many like to mock now, but we should not take her lightly. (I feel bad for taking a shot at Kim K because she’s actually working for criminal justice reform with the President, but the point is made.)

More are coming. More will run for office and more will get elected because they will promise free stuff at the cost of others. They will point the finger at the wealthy and say they owe them something. They will tweet and Snapchat incessantly to rile up their base. Instead of coming to the table and putting up their policies for debate, they will simply run to social media whenever there is pushback and say “Look out how mean these people are being to me!” or some other cute retort that lacks substance.

How to Prepare for the Millennial Politician

Those who see the writing on the wall should start adapting their techniques for this political change now if there is ever a chance to stop them. There will be more AOC’s coming, proposing even more radical proposals to stake out their little spot of political ground.

The first place to start is to fight fire with fire. Social media is important, it gets your message out more effectively. But instead of simply retweeting “LOL this is person is so dumb,” people have to start calling them out for their ridiculous policies. Further, those who are right of far left have to change the topic of discussion. Don’t argue with someone on their own turf. When someone sets the parameters of an argument and you have to argue within them, most of the time you lose. The conversation has to change.

This may mean ignoring the AOC’s completely. Stop giving them oxygen as they say. The more you engage the more they “clap back” and score social media points for doing so.

Simply don’t engage.

It’s like George Bernard Shaw once said, “Never wrestle with a pig because you have to get down in the mud and the pig likes it.” Politicians like AOC want you to debate them on social media. Why not debate them in person? Why not call them out on the fact they can’t really defend their positions?

The truth of the matter is, we can stand here and point our finger and laugh at politicians like AOC, or we can start to adapt now and be ready for more like her when they do start to get elected.

It’s easier now since there’s only one of her, but when there are dozens it will be harder to combat.

Bottom line, millennial politicians are coming, better to prepare now before they overtake government and ruin everything.

Where Do We Go After President Trump?

One thing that I think about from time to time is where do we as a country go after President Trump leaves office. His incredible ascendance to the Presidency in 2016 will be talked about for generations, but what legacy will he leave behind? Will he have changed the course of history or merely be an anomaly?

Was President Trump an unexpected phenomenon or was he tapping into something bigger? Was he the catalyst or is he the culmination of a larger sentiment bubbling up in American society?

The answers to these questions can give us a preview of where we go after President Trump leaves the Oval Office and retires back to 5th Avenue and his billionaire lifestyle.

As we all know per the Constitution, President Trump cannot run the country forever. He will have to step down eventually. So while we all enjoy his sporadic tweets and unfiltered talking points, he like all Presidents will have to relinquish his seat to the next person.

But who will that person be? Will his VP Mike Pence step up and attempt to run with Trump’s blessing? Will another unknown candidate rise up to take the country by storm?

We can postulate forever on where we go from here, but in my mind I see two paths after President Trump leaves.

The “MAGA” Movement Continues To Usher In a New Era of Politics

President Trump did not wake up one morning and decide to run for President (or maybe he did). You can do a quick search to see questions of his Presidential ambitions going back almost 20 years. He was courted by the Republicans in the late 80’s to take up the mantle after President Reagan, and again courted in 2000 by the Reform Party to run as a viable third party candidate.

During that time, we have seen other political movements come to the forefront. We saw the rise of the Tea Party under President Obama, as well as Occupy Wall Street. The economic collapse and eventual bailout of Wall Street in 07 and 08 left many Americans feeling that they were nothing more than peasants at the feet of the mighty bankers. Populism began to take a foot hold on both the left and right. President Obama attempted to harness this sentiment in his two campaigns for the White House. Mitt Romney made it even easier in 2012 when he was the personification of everything wrong with Wall Street for President Obama to tap into that Populist spirit. But after eight years of President Obama delivering on only a couple of his promises, Americans were once again looking for someone to radically shake things up in Washington.

Enter two radical candidates, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

Both had new radical views, but in the long run, Donald Trump’s ability to easily dispatch his Republican opponents and Sanders’ inability to overcome the crooked DNC allowed him to easily enter the general election. Whereby he resoundingly beat Hillary Clinton, who was the personification of everything wrong with Washington DC much like Romney was the personification of everything wrong with Wall Street.

So that’s the past, but what about the future?

Today we see populism/nationalism on the rise in many Western countries. The election of Donald Trump and Brexit were the first shots fired in this global struggle over political philosophies. Were we to be ruled with our nation’s best interests in mind, or are we to succumb to a faceless, global government?

Currently, it can be argued that the people are speaking up in favor of nationalism. You have the MAGA movement in America, Brexit, the Yellow Vests in France, Salvini and company in Italy, Bolsonaro in Brazil, Poland’s defiance of the EU, and nationalist parties bubbling up in countries like Spain show that the push for nationalism/populism over globalism is picking up speed.

But how far will it be allowed to go?

At the time it was said, many of us were coming off the high of a Donald Trump upset of Hillary Clinton, but Steve Bannon hit it on the head when he said the globalists aren’t going to give up without a fight. The MSM continues to attack President Trump daily, questioning every move he makes. Meanwhile, they downplay movements in Europe as small protests, and not uprisings. The Fed continues to play games with the economy by toying with interest rates, and now you have a Democratic House after a night of questionable election tactics.

This fight will continue to be an uphill battle, but without a leader such as Donald Trump at the helm, who do we look to?

Maybe the successes of populism help people wake up to the benefits of looking out for your country first and they continue to vote for MAGA-like candidates. But judging by the recent midterm election, the conditioning will be hard to break and I guarantee there will be plenty of useful idiots after President Trump is gone to vote for more globalists.

We can only hope that this movement, whatever you want to call it, continues. It’s taking hold in many other countries but there is still a long way to go. Major players such as England and France continue to side with globalists. Germany is home to the Queen of Globalism herself, Angela Merkel. There are many countries that have yet to turn it around, and with their power they can easily turn the tide back.

But maybe, just maybe, President Trump was the beginning of something. A turning point in history where nations, who are more connected than ever in history, begin to reflect on what it means to be American, or French, or English, and decide to turn their attentions towards protecting and promoting their own countries.

Will the globalists just close up shop and go home? I doubt it, but maybe they can be quelled for another couple decades to allow populism to thrive.

We Return To Status Quo

This is the more depressing path we take after President Trump leaves office. I am not going to pretend that American politics doesn’t swing like a pendulum. We had eight years of President Obama and that led to President Trump, if the pendulum were to swing back the other way, we will most likely be stuck with another status quo, Washington insider (most likely leftist) globalist in the Oval Office.

Then everything President Trump would have done would essentially be undone. It would stifle any progress we have made up to this point.

You can look forward to more taxes on the middle class shrouded in the pursuit of battling “climate change.” They will rail about the top 1%, and when the top 1% says don’t tax us or we’ll find some other talking suit to take your place, the politicians will turn to the upper-middle and middle class to fund their pet projects and slowly whittle away the economic growth of both.

Whether they have an R or D next to their name, the game will remain the same. They will sell you a bill of goods and turn around to do everything that is not in your best interests.

They will most likely go back to agreeing to international resolutions that will chip away at our sovereignty and send our tax dollars overseas. Any idea or notion of looking out for “America First” will be scoffed at as primitive and idiotic.

Everything will be undone and things will go back to the way they were before President Trump took office, and this is probably the most depressing outcome I can think of. Everything accomplished will be undone and set back to the way it was before.

So What Do We Do?

The one thing that we can’t do is take for advantage where we are at right now. We can’t rest on our laurels and assume that we are going to ride off into the sunset on the wings a of bald eagle and roll credits.

The world doesn’t work like that.

The globalists and leftists are going to assume this was a bump in the road and that this can be fixed. They will fight harder to win in 2020 and go back to their ways. Even if President Trump wins in 2020, they will be ready to assume power in 2024. Like I said, American politics swings back and forth and to assume America would elect another conservative populist like Trump can be a bit of a stretch.

But there is something we can do.

We can take what President Trump has started and continue to carry it out long after he is gone. In essence, you have to vote for MAGA from the President on down to your local dog catcher.

President is nice, but in essence, local elections are incredibly important to your everyday lives. To enact grassroots change will be one way to ensure erosion of leftist/globalist power. When your cities, and states are filled with politicians who believe in protecting its citizens and putting our interests first, MAGA will essentially live on.

MAGA was a great slogan, but it’s the philosophy behind the slogan that needs to be implemented throughout America. Politicians of course won’t come out and proclaim they are MAGA, but you can read their positions and figure it out for yourself.

Do they believe in economic prosperity through low taxes and no regulations? Do they believe American workers should be protected from countries who are trying to undercut our industries? Do they believe in enforcing the law and keeping our communities safe?

These are some of the pillars of the MAGA movement that President Trump started. But we have to continue to vote for those who support this philosophy, and fast before it’s extinguished.

Either way, President Trump is not the end of a movement, but merely the beginning. He is the spark to a bigger fire.

Our goal is to keep the fire alive after he’s gone.

 

California Liberals Don’t Care About the Poor

Photo from SFGate.com

This is more of a continuation from my last post, but this is something that I have been mulling for a couple days now. When I wrote about how certain Propositions would end up hurting the most vulnerable, mainly the poor of California, something dawned on me.

I mean, think about it, how can they? When they gleefully vote for idiotic measures such as Prop 6 which kept gas prices high, or when they virtue signaled their love for animal rights when they voted for Prop 12 which would end up raising the price of food in California, mainly eggs which will all have to be cage free by 2022.

In the lounges, coffee shops, and hookah bars of coastal cities, these measures seem like they are only one step closer to the leftist Utopian society which they dream of. It sounds great in theory, but in the end as is with most leftist policies, the unintended consequences hurt those most who can’t sustain the abuse.

Time and time again, California liberals continue to vote for Propositions that hurt the poor. When they vote for the state to interject itself into the housing market by controlling prices, they are hurting the poor by forcing prices up. When they vote for measures that put more regulations on farmers, their food bills go up. When they allow the state to screw with utilities, their utility bills go up.

The truth of the matter is, California liberals don’t care about the poor when they vote.

Sure, they pretend they care. They support measures that sound good on paper (usually with the help of some crafty proposition writing). The measures at least make them feel better so they can humble brag to their buddies down at Equinox how liberal and “woke” they are for voting for a better future. But in the end, they don’t realize how much these measures hurt the poor in California.

Even the left leaning LA Times recognized the issue in an article written at the start of 2018.

It’s not as though California policymakers have neglected to wage war on poverty. Sacramento and local governments have spent massive amounts in the cause. Several state and municipal benefit programs overlap with one another; in some cases, individuals with incomes 200% above the poverty line receive benefits. California state and local governments spent nearly $958 billion from 1992 through 2015 on public welfare programs, including cash-assistance payments, vendor payments and “other public welfare,” according to the Census Bureau. California, with 12% of the American population, is home today to about one in three of the nation’s welfare recipients.

The generous spending, then, has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse.

The article goes on to say that the inverse has happened in California. The continued push of progressive, welfare policies has actually exacerbated the problem with some individuals receiving benefits even though their income is 200% above the poverty line.

And what about housing?

Further contributing to the poverty problem is California’s housing crisis. More than four in 10 households spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2015.

“Counties and local governments have imposed restrictive land-use regulations that drove up the price of land and dwellings. Middle-income households have been forced to accept lower standards of living while the less fortunate have been driven into poverty by the high cost of housing.”

It’s all in the name of pushing forward “California Values.” We are doomed to continue down this path so long as politicians in Sacramento continue to face no opposition.

Apparently content with futile poverty policies, Sacramento lawmakers can turn their attention to what historian Victor Davis Hanson aptly describes as a fixation on “remaking the world.” The political class wants to build a costly and needless high-speed rail system; talks of secession from a United States presided over by Donald Trump; hired former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. to “resist” Trump’s agenda; enacted the first state-level cap-and-trade regime; established California as a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants; banned plastic bags, threatening the jobs of thousands of workers involved in their manufacture; and is consumed by its dedication to “California values.”

The truth is, “California values” are quickly becoming the values pushed by those who have annual incomes over seven figures, live in gated communities, and shop unencumbered at Whole Foods. The problem is these values are not representative of the whole state. These leftists are blind to the damage they inflict because they are safe behind their guarded community walls (guarded by security with guns mind you). They don’t see it. It’s out of sight out of mind for these people. And in areas where poverty is especially high (think of the homeless encampments in San Francisco and LA), they turn their nose up and simply say “That’s the bad part of town.”

But they will march on all in the name of their leftist utopia. One where they can virtue signal to the world how amazing they are and how compassionate they are. That they willingly pay more in taxes because…well they help the little people…somehow….right?

They will Snapchat their “I Voted” stickers to show how engaged they are, and maybe throw a couple hashtags like “#NoOn6” to show they voted the “correct” way. But soon after they will be back to boomeranging videos of them clinking champagne glasses at a beach bar while the sunset goes down, far from those “bad areas of town” they look down on. All the while hoping that some government bureaucrat will take their hard earned tax dollars and put it to good use to fix a problem they care nothing about.

All because California liberals don’t care about the poor.

Midterms 2018 – Review and Analysis

With the smoke of the midterm elections drifting away, the final votes continue to be tallied across the nation. This post is not to discuss the national ramifications of the elections and what the Democrats gaining control of the House means for us, but rather our local elections (because this is a site dedicated to California politics as well).

I will say this, if you are a conservative/libertarian/moderate Democrat/independent/sane voter, you lost last night. You lost big time last night. In a midterm election that had incredible enthusiasm, California continued to do what California does best, go against common sense and lurch further towards the far left end of the political spectrum. We are in for more taxes and regulations, while still suffering the ill effects of a poorly run state government.

So on that cheery note, let’s dive into the highlights of last night’s election.

Governor’s Race

The crown prince Gavin Newsom was easily anointed our next Governor with little to no fight on his part. John Cox did his best (which in my opinion was not going to cut it) to come up with a catchy slogan and try to barnstorm the state with his #HelpIsOnTheWay message. But in today’s day and age, if you are going to disrupt politics in a state that has been long entrenched as a Democratic stronghold, you have to do things differently. Granted, Cox was not my first pick. Travis Allen would have taken the fight to Newsom a little better in my opinion. He wouldn’t have played nice and allowed Newsom to hide from debates. He would have called him out for it consistently, which Cox should have. Newsom hiding from debates just showed he either (1) had no new ideas for the state besides the ole tax and spend routine or (2) his ideas were so bad he didn’t want people to hear them.

This may be a new indicator of voter enthusiasm which should be tracked from here on out, but a Cox Instagram post would garner barely 1,000 likes. A Newsom post would garner easily over 7,000. Even Travis Allen (who wasn’t running) would get 3,000 likes. Once I saw that I knew the race was over. Maybe anecdotal at best, but it does show how many people are involved in the campaign. It worked for President Obama and President Trump, so I don’t know why local politicians think it’s not worth it.

So my prediction for Newsom is this, I would be surprised if he digs in and actually works as Governor for the state. He was notorious for spending a couple hours a week as Lt. Governor working and the rest gallivanting around the state. I would bet that by January he will be jetting off the Iowa to throw his hat in the ring for the Presidential race. This may be for a later post, but I can’t imagine a hard left Democrat from San Francisco will do well in a general election, but hey let him go try right?

My biggest worry is that Newsom will try to ram as much stuff through with the stroke of a pen. He will make single payer an issue which could scare a lot of voters. If it involves him getting down in the dirt and doing actual politicking, then I can’t see him pursuing it too hard.

My only silver lining I can foresee from a disastrous Newsom Governorship is that it will open up the possibility of a real contender rising in four years. Maybe Travis Allen gives it another go in 2022, and without Cox getting in his way, he can actually build somewhat of a coalition to beat him. Either way, we can only hope he has a disastrous four years and paves the way for someone new to come along and shake things up.

Prop 6

Jeez, only in California will people willingly vote for more taxes. Especially at the gas pump. With some of the most expensive gas prices in the country, people still voted down the Repeal of the Gas Tax in overwhelming fashion. I heard arguments that we need a gas tax because gas is already too cheap as it is. I don’t know who thinks gas prices are already too cheap as is, oh wait yes I do, limousine liberals who live in gated communities in multi million dollar homes, driving Teslas, and making the maid bring in your groceries from Whole Foods. To these people the difference between 2.99 a gallon and 3.75 a gallon is nothing, but to the middle and lower classes of California it makes all the difference.

I would love to be proven wrong and see new roads, bridges, and infrastructure in this state as a result of the gas tax, but I won’t hold my breath. Do I blame the Secretary of State for wording this Proposition wrong? Mostly, but I also blame ineffectual leaders to get this repealed.

So save your pennies, because you’ll need it to fill up your tank from here on out.

Prop 1

Someone asked me to explain this Proposition to them in basic terms;

“Will it raise taxes?”

Here’s my take, whenever the state asks voters to “authorize a bond” you should remember what it really means is “allow us to take on more debt.” How does this debt get paid off? Well the hope is the program somehow pays it back, but usually when interest payments come due, the taxpayers are left picking up the tab.

This Prop authorized the state to issue a $4 billion bond for affordable housing. The state will be responsible for paying back the bond at $174 million a year for 35 years. That’s a long time for us to pay something back and a lot of interest compounding.

But when the state gets involved in housing it’s always a good thing right? Wrong. This has money pit written all over it.

Prop 10

One of the bright spots of last night was Proposition 10 was resoundingly defeated. Prop 10 would allow the state to get involved in rent control. Because as we all know from basic economics, when the state gets involved in fixing prices things go sideways real quick.

If Prop 10 passed, you can guarantee that developers would have fled the state and declined any new projects. If there is a risk that their investment won’t see returns because of rent control, then they aren’t going to build. If developers don’t build, supply stagnates, and when supply stagnates demand and prices go up.

California needs to be more friendly to developers to allow for more housing to be built, not less.

This was one of the few bright spots.

House Races

Putting aside Fox News’ travesty of a decision to call the House for the Dems long before polls were closed in California, there were still upsets. Diane Harkey who was running in Darrell Issa’s vacated seat went down but Duncan Hunter was able to hold onto his seat despite facing an indictment.

Overall, California held some seats but lost a couple. Issa’s seat is troubling because that was a Republican seat for a long time and losing that was huge.

Prop 12

Again, another overreaching Proposition that passed. It sounds nice that all animals must be treated humanely, and that by 2022 all your eggs will be cage free, but the measure has its unintended consequences. Farmers who already face enough regulations and pressure from the state are now going to have to adapt to these new regulations or close up shop. More costly regulations on farmers will do one thing, raise prices on your food. So again, while the limousine liberals don’t really care if they pay $6 for a dozen organic cage free eggs, the lower classes will suffer when their grocery bills go up.

But hey, cage free eggs are like totally all the rage now. So who cares about whether poor people can’t put food on their tables right?

Conclusion

While most of the results were not surprising, some were confounding because of how people did not do their research and blindly voted. Prop 6 was especially confusing because for the life of me I thought, how can people actively vote for higher gas prices? But only in California can they do so and pat themselves on the back for it.

But we continue the fight, because hopefully someday the dam will break and voters will get tired of the over regulation and taxes and start to push back.