Today Kamala Harris finally won her attorney general race in California, joining the ranks of Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom in what is sure to be a pretty epic state government. I, for the most part, love California, the state I've lived my whole life. Yes, the Governator did get elected, and we kind of dropped the ball on the whole Prop 8 and Prop 19 thing. And we have a pretty bad budget and schools. Despite all of our short-comings, I still love the Golden State.
California is a pretty lovable state. There's Los Angeles and Hollywood, home of Disneyland and where you can sometimes see famous people at Target, some really pretty coastlines and redwood trees, great snowboarding slopes in the Sierras, the Great Central Valley which isn't all that great, and, my personal favorite, the funky Bay Area, a mix of the techie Silicon Valley and the coolest city in the world, San Francisco. Fine. I'm a little biased.
I'm not about to say California is perfect. Our budget doesn't really exist. Mississippi is the only state to have worse public schools than California. We're the first states to actively take away rights of a minority. The majority of the population thought Arnold Schwarzenegger would be a good governor. Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan both came from California.
For all the bad that is California, there is good. Overwhelming, beautiful potential and good.
We managed to avoid the sea of red this election cycle. Jerry brown is our governor instead of a heinous sideshow freak. A somewhat dim-witted but well-meaning San Francisco liberal is second in command. The first mixed-race female attorney general in the history of California just got elected. a very unlikeable senate candidate managed to pull a pretty nice victory over her opponent who looked like a vulture. The first female Speaker of the House is from California.
Even though the state has next to no money and poorly educated students, I think we can make it out alright. after all, we elected candidates who weren't afraid to say, "Yeah, taxes will rise. Services may be cut." I don't want public services cut, or UC tuition fees to go up, but it's the reality. I hope the vast majority of Californians agree with me, and are able to work through their differences to pass a state budget. At least there is no 2/3 majority any more.
I still remember Gray Davis and when Gavin Newsom legalized gay marriage in San Francisco. I remember the day Nancy Pelosi was elected yet again in 2006 and watching California turn blue on all the election maps in 2008. I know my state is a damn good place. We've put up with a horrible governor and a pretty nasty state government for the past few years. It's like the rest of the country. There was a bad leader who screwed everyone over, and now everyone expects the new leader to fix everything in a very short amount of time. Some things Brown/Newsom/Harris do will be unpopular. their approval ratings will drop. But, in the end, I think they can make it through.
What does this have to do with the rest of the United States, where the Democrats got a shellacking? I think the rest of the country will turn around in 2012, get rid of the Tea Party, and while the government is still far from as progressive or liberal as I'd like, at least it'll be on the right track.
People have been saying as California goes, so goes the nation, and I hope that's true. Because as much as I love my home state, what's the point of living here if the rest of the country cannot function?