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California Politics: Seriousness & Censure

By Chris Angle | 03/08/09

While the California Republican Party was busy excoriating certain Republican legislators for having voted to increase taxes a couple of weeks ago, the rest of the state was sighing with relief that a budget was actually passed. While this relief may turn out to be temporary as many Republicans have argued it will be, there is perhaps a larger political point that Republicans may be missing. Despite the seemingly perpetual state of crisis... read more »

Tom Hudson Ineligible To Run For Board Seat?

By Chris Angle | 02/13/09

This was brought to my attention...........................................................   PRESS RELEASE: Sacramento, California 02/13/2009  Tom Hudson Ineligible to Run for Board Seat Tom Hudson, the current chairman of the Placer County GOP and a candidate for Regional Vice Chair North, is ineligible to run for CRP Board Seat. The CRP Bylaws Section 2.03.01 (B) (1) states "A full-time staff person employed" by a person elected... read more »

Bailout For U.S. Automakers (The Wrong Medicine For The Wrong Industry)

By Chris Angle | 12/13/08

Despite the best efforts of Republicans in the Senate, it appears likely that some sort of government assistance will eventually be provided to the Big 3 automakers in Detroit (even if they have to wait until Obama takes office). While the subject of a bailout for the automakers has certainly been controversial, the question as to whether Congress would be able to resist the enormous political pressure that was sure to be brought from the auto... read more »

Anti-democratic Democrats

By Chris Angle | 12/02/08

One of the fundamental supports undergirding a liberal constitutional democratic system is the implied legitimacy of decisions not to ones liking, provided that the proper procedures were followed in making them. Since the passage of Proposition 8, several groups (including at least 44 Democrat members of the state legislature) essentially declared their disagreement with this concept in calling on the California Supreme Court to overturn this... read more »

Republicans-The Road Out Of The Wilderness

By Chris Angle | 11/15/08

After being soundly beaten on November 4th, the Republican Party finds itself in a very dangerous position. Historically, political coalitions have tended to react in one of two ways to similar situations: either they thoughtfully reexamine themselves and change course, or they decide to hold course and become more shrill and extreme as they continue to lose elections. The latter course generally seems to turn off voters and tends to result in a... read more »

Proposition 11: A Badly-Needed Reform

By Chris Angle | 11/01/08

On Tuesday, the voters of California will go to the polls to decide whether or not to change the way legislative districts in this state are drawn. While few would dispute the inherent conflict of interest embedded in having legislators draw their own districts, it appears that this initiative is somewhat controversial. Proposition 11, if enacted, would do the following: 1.) Appoint a commission comprised of 14 members. (5 Democrats, 5... read more »

Proposition 8

By Chris Angle | 10/25/08

In less than two weeks, California voters will go to the polls to decide whether to constitutionally define marriage in this state as being between 1 man and 1 woman. This proposition, however, is about more than just whether same-sex marriage should be legal. It is also about whether or not the definition of marriage is something that should be constitutionally mandated, as opposed to being defined through the legislative... read more »

The Democrats Fundamental Problem

By Chris Angle | 10/05/08

With less than a month to go before the election, we are in the process of witnessing the Democrats quadrennial attempt to overcome their fundamental problem with the American voter. The problem is that they are a Party representing European values running in an American election. In representing a Party whose values are fundamentally at odds with the average voter, Democrat presidential candidates for the last generation have had to strike an... read more »

Russia, Georgia, and the West

By Chris Angle | 09/06/08

The Russian attack on Georgia last month, and what can only be charitably described as its delay in following through with its agreements under the ceasefire, brings into focus that Russia is not the partner that many in the West believed it to be. The speed and coordination of the attack (as well as the detailed planning that such an attack required) refutes the Russian claim that it was merely responding to Georgian genocide in the breakaway... read more »

The Democrats And Oil Drilling

By Chris Angle | 08/19/08

In light of $4.00/gallon gasoline, the continued Democrat opposition to drilling for oil & natural gas off of our coast and in Alaska is difficult to understand. While virtually no one doubts that there is potential environmental risk to offshore oil drilling, the fact is that techniques for deep water drilling have become more advanced and environmentally safer over the last 20-30 years. The fact that the British and Norwegians have been... read more »