California: Failed Legacy of Socialism David Freddoso's headline article ["Who Killed the Golden State?" HUMAN EVENTS, August 11] relates the all but final nail in California's coffin. California's problems started half a century ago and it's a lesson for all to heed. I remember it well. Those who Freddoso writes of—Davis Democrats—once stood on wooden orange crates in Los Angeles' numerous small parks in the 1930s and expounded away, to those who walked by and stood around to listen, about the great socialist ideas that would solve humanities' problems. They weren't around after World War II, but they weren't gone. As the honest productive citizens minded their own business, these socialists wormed their way into the governments of California—from the cities upward and finally into the seats of power in Sacramento. California's energy mess was the real first hard sign of these Democrats work but they'd been entrenched long before that. A dozen previous years they moved with price controls, counterproductive measures and unsound economic principles. Eventually they killed the ability to meet California's growing energy demands. Rolling blackouts came. It's not hard to understand why it happens if one understands socialism. Human ingenuity is the best provider and problem solver for human needs. All government does is get in the way. Socialists promote big and controlling government with their beliefs that insures failure from its inception. They do not take into consideration human needs and wants. Then they try to tell humans what they should have. Mr. Freddoso enumerated the symptoms of socialism well. Humans can feel them. Its what drives socialism that the Bible and history has recorded in the failed societies. California is only another pimple in socialism's failures. The American taxpayer will most likely bail them out—only for them to repeat again. Therein lies a lesson we never learn.
RINO Factor Looms In California Recall Vote Regarding the pragmatist v. conservative split over the GOP candidates in the California Recall, ["McClintock Pro and Con" HUMAN EVENTS, September 15] Election after election, Republicans are pressed to support the liberal candidate so that their vote won't be "throw away." In my opinion, the GOP, particularly in California, is headed for a showdown, as to what constitutes a Republican. The "social liberal/fiscal conservative" mantra has grown thin and has gradually shifted so far left that conservative Republicans feel that the party no longer represents their views at all. It appears, from my contact with large numbers of Republican voters, that conservative voters have begun to dig in their heels against the pressure to vote RINO. They have grown weary of throwing their vote away and, along with it, any hope for representation of their views. If this group does indeed vote their conscience, it is doubtful that Arnold can garner enough votes to win. Confronted with this scenario, these voters are insistent that there is little difference between Arnold and Davis/Bustamante. In truth, I am afraid they are correct. We can insist that the leopard is a lion but, that won't make the spots change. We can call Arnold a Republican, but it doesn't change the foundation laid by the socialist government under which he was born and raised. Yes. A showdown is coming. And it may be as soon as the California governor's race.
Ouch! I have communicated with you twice before about the factual errors in your Roll Call pages, and the importance of accuracy when referring to the data in writing my letters to the editor of local newspapers. Page 34 of your issue of September 15 is a doozy! Redistricting must have run amok, as one vote is 240 for, and 1738 against. In another, the measure passed 9/9 with a vote of 208 to 208. I always thought this is a tie. They also approved an amendment 809 to 208. We see "nenbers' salaries," "oucchers," and "Jeffrey's dolumn." Sure, a little common sense can discover the right version in many cases. But in the others, how? Please devote a bit more attention to the details in this potentially valuable section of your newspaper. Certainly I am not the only one who points these things out.
Editor's Note: We gratefully appreciate corrections from our readers. Regrettably, the RollCalls of the September 15 issue contained an unusual number of errors and typos.
We apologize for these many mistakes. It was a bad night. 'Conservative Spotlight' Newspaper Clarification In a recent "Conservative Spotlight" feature ["Conservative Spotlight: World Journalism Center" HUMAN EVENTS, September 1] on the World Journalism Institute by HUMAN EVENTS Associate Editor Joseph D'Agostino, I am quoted as mentioning a newspaper with the name of Pasadena Sun. The Sun is a fictitious named coined by me. There is no such paper currently published, to my knowledge, named the Pasadena Sun. The reasons I picked the name are personal: Pasadena is the location of one of my graduate schools and it is near our Los Angeles area course. Besides, there ought to be a paper called the Pasadena Sun since it has a nice ring. I used a pseudonym to protect the young journalist involved. While I understand this fake name diminishes the validity of my reference to newspaper bias, I choose to use the phony name for privacy reasons. Overwhelmingly, mainstream editors around the country have been gracious, and pleased to use our graduates in their newsrooms.
"Nullify the Nutty Ninth?" ["Nullify the Nutty Ninth" HUMAN EVENTS, September 22] Haven't we had enough of the Clintons? Why must you give Bill Clinton front-page news with his photo? Honest to Pete I am so sick and tired of hearing about Bill Clinton I am ready to trash my subscription to HUMAN EVENTS.
