The Doggy Diaries... gone to the dogs!

It sure looks like the folks voted into the state house and senate are not listening to voters like you. Either that or you are in the minority Kasey. :(

Just another step in the wrong direction if you ask me.

This is unconscionable! *spoken with vehemence*

Do the voter's wishes mean nothing in all of this? Surely the fine people of CA don't want this sort of thing to happen! The cons far outweigh the pros! Even I can see that! This is sad... Unconscionable... So sad... :(

Actually, Bruce, I am not in the minority. A number of polls have proven without doubt that anywhere between 60% - 70% of Californians and registered voters are opposed to drivers licenses for illegal aliens. The problem is that our state legislators, the majority of whom are Democrats, continually disregard their constituencies and push through legislation that goes against what the real majority of Californians want.

I am not a politician, and I do not know what goes on in our legislature, but it seems to me that we are deadlocked in partisanship here. The Democrats all vote as a block, and the Republicans all vote as a block. Democrats almost always win because they are in the majority in both the state Assembly and Senate.

It could also be a little backroom bargaining, deal making, lobbying, etc. that causes us to get so much bad legislation. In my mind, that's a possible reason to explain how one single senator (Mark Leno) could conceivably push legislation through our state government that puts aside the vote of the people by redefining marriage in the State of California to be between any two people. In the year 2000, more than 60% of California voters already voted in support of Proposition 22 stating that marriage in California would only be defined and accepted as a union between one man and one woman. In spite of this vote, Senator Leno keeps pushing forward legislation in our state Capitol that completely trashes the vote of the people of California! On his side, he has a variety of other "public servants" such as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson and San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer. (Are you getting the same feeling I am that San Francisco is way off base from the rest of the state? As if anyone would doubt that!)

The same is going on with this bill to grant drivers licenses to illegal aliens. In spite of the fact that polls have shown a majority of Californians are against such an idea, one single senator (Gil Cedillo) keeps pushing this abomination of legislation time and time again. First it was SB 60, then it was SB 1160, now it's SB 60 again. (I would have to do some research to discover if it has ever had any other name.) He won't give up, in spite of what the people want.

If the politicians were really doing their job for the people and correctly representing their constituencies, bills such as the Gay Marriage bill (AB 19) and the Drivers Licenses for Illegal Aliens bill (SB 60) would never have made it as far as they have. Fortunately, the vote of the people was upheld when AB 19 fell 4 votes short in the state Assembly last night, Thursday, 02-June-2005. (The fight over gay marriage is not over, however, as it is anticipated that a San Francisco Appeals Court may uphold Judge Kramer's ruling that man-woman-only marriage is unconstitutional. See the Campaign for Children and Families website at http://www.savecalifornia.com/ more information.) SB 60, however, passed the Senate and now makes its way to the Assembly. It has not yet been stopped.

Although the California flag clearly states "California Republic," this is not a republic we have here in California. A republic, as defined by Webster's II New College Dictionary, is "a political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and REPRESENTATIVES RESPONSIBLE TO THEM." (Emphasis added by me.) Clearly, several of California's legislators have forgotten that this is supposed to be government by the people, of the people, and for the people. They seem to think it is government for politicians or some other odd notion, and from my perspective, they care not what the people want.

Yes, Bonnie, it is absolutely unconscionable that our politicians do not listen to the vote of the people. I couldn't have said it better myself!

Thank you for your support. It's nice to know that there are still others out there who believe in our republican form of government and believe it is a very bad idea to trash the people's vote. (Let it be known, though, that Californians have not been given an opportunity to vote on whether they want to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. So technically, our vote on this issue hasn't been trashed yet. In theory though, and based on how the voters would vote if given an opportunity to do so, it is unconscionable that our politicians would screw us like this.)

The legislative monkeys up in Sac-a-tomato don't care or listen to the rest of us and haven't for a long time - they're busy creating new voters so they can stay in office.