What happened to California? Every right wing proposition passed.

[former9thward]

Despite opposition from unions and progressive U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders — who Democrats in the state supported over Biden in the March presidential primary — voters passed Proposition 22, opting to let companies like Uber and Lyft exempt their drivers from state labor laws.

Twenty-four years after banning it, voters again rejected affirmative action, which allows diversity to be considered in public-sector hiring and college admissions.

And while a battle over the future of California’s landmark property law is not yet settled, early results show Proposition 15 with 48% of the vote. If that margin holds, the measure — which would raise taxes on commercial and industrial landowners to provide more money for schools and local governments —would be defeated.

For the second election in a row, they voted down regulations on dialysis clinics by rejecting labor union-backed Proposition 23.

[sfstaxprep]

1. Don't Blame Me

I think it was all the advertising. The business interests spent a ton, and the commercials ran constantly.

[dogknob]

3. I saw that No on 15 ad 4 times during the 30 minutes I spent in a coffee shop the other day.

[BigmanPigman]

2. I know...it makes me pissed off (still/again).

[greenjar_01]

4. Your party for that is going to be, well, weird

[lapfog_1]

5. then propositions

are always written as if the are straight out of a Democratic wish list... and the TV commercials are non-stop fear mongering ( for example - thousands would "lose access to kidney dialysis!" blah blah ).

The entire proposition should be jettisoned and let our state representatives figure it all out.

[Renew Deal]

30. Don't people go this route because the legislature won't take it up?

[AlexSFCA]

6. I think pandemic may have affected the outcome

Prop 22: I think too many people rely on app delivery services now (ubereats, doordash, etc.) and didn’t want to see a rate hike.
Prop 15: this is a surprise but maybe many people didn’t want to see tax hike on commercial property during the economic crisis.

[JI7]

22. Not really, California has a history of opposing higher taxes on these propositions

[people]

7. What happened to CA right wing initiatives . . .

The advertising was massive by Lyft, Uber and others in support of proposition 22. The advertising showed many women drivers who were praising the benefits of being a gig worker being able to work whenever they wanted to and found the time and many minority men and women saying similar things. If you didn't know anything about what it meant to work for no benefits and no employee protections you would have thought from the ads that proposition 22 was restoring justice for the gig drivers.

In terms of the proposition rejecting any consideration of diversity in public sector hiring and college admissions, the percentage of persons who voted against that proposition is the same percentage of voters who voted years ago in CA to ban affirmative action. A lot of racists everywhere.

There was also non-stop advertising in support of the proposition rejecting regulations for dialysis clinics The ads showed older white and black persons who said that their clinic might go under if forced to comply with these new regulations and that they would die without having access to dialysis. Money talks very loudly.

[airplaneman]

11. I studied these issues carefully - in particular

There was also non-stop advertising in support of the proposition rejecting regulations for dialysis clinics The ads showed older white and black persons who said that their clinic might go under if forced to comply with these new regulations and that they would die without having access to dialysis. Money talks very loudly.

That's interesting because a yes vote would mean:
-They could not deny coverage because you were on Medicare
-They could not close down a site without permission from CA

A no vote means:
They can deny treatment to all Medicare only patients
They can close down any office they want without consulting anybody.

A patient (Trump supporter?) says their clinic MIGHT (hate that word) go under if they are forced to stay open or not cover Medicare (are we impressed with these patients?)

-Airplane

[GulfCoast66]

8. Maybe we minority DU members who are moderates are on to something?

I’m not a moderate because moderation is my preference. I’m at heart a real hard core liberal.

But unlike too many I actually want to win. Most Americans of all strips find the idea if using race as a factor in employment unattractive.

Same with Uber. Americans love it and most of us talk to our drivers. Most I talk to are happy to do it and it works for them.

Your vote should be based on what is possible. Not your view of the prefect.

I’m a hard core liberal. I vote moderate because most Americans are not liberals. Our losses in the house should have have taught us that.

President Elect Biden mentioned it tonight. Change in the US is slow. We rush it at our peril.

[DavidDvorkin]

9. Well said.

[GulfCoast66]

10. Thank you.

I hope you have a great evening and weekend.

[eissa]

12. OMG, yes to all of this

I’m a California liberal. I want corporations to pay more in taxes and a cap on rent. I also realize that tax hikes during a pandemic when businesses are either closing or moving out of state is probably not a good idea.

Race preference in schools and hiring also creates a lot of blowback, where those who get placement are perceived as getting in on qualifications other than merit.

[Buckeyeblue]

17. You're right. We need to.learn from the past 4 years and this election.

Winning the elections is the most important thing. And moderate positions are better than far right positions.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Excellent Post

Sometimes the notion of being a pragmatic liberal gets lost.
Well said, GC66!

[Amishman]

27. Very very well said!

If there is anything the Republicans surprising resilience this past election should teach us, is that this country is far from a progressive majority.

The Republicans outperformed in spite of Trump's awful personality, not because of it. Down ballot the Pubs consistently out performed Trump and the polls. This suggests Republican ideology outperformed, not Trump the person. We ran our most progressive platform ever, and our primaries dialog was even more so.

To use a sports analogy, we came dangerously close to outkicking our coverage.

[dware]

31. Perfectly stated.

[R B Garr]

13. Slight distinction. Bloomberg took votes from Biden here,

which is what helped Bernie. I haven’t looked at the totals in awhile, but Bloomberg and Biden combined beat Bernie.

[winstars]

14. Because of the TV ads, no means yes and visa versa. Most people are stupid...

The Uber prop was one like that Yes meant no employee status.

Very confusing to the low info voter...

[winstars]

15. Because of the TV ads, no means yes and visa versa. Most people are stupid...

The Uber prop was one like that Yes meant no employee status.

Very confusing to the low info voter...

[Boogiemack]

16. The greedy have to greed. nt

[moonscape]

18. I really hate most propositions. I can't

tell you the number of educated people who try to figure out the night before what they are going to vote for. The positions are not obvious, the language can be deceptive, the ramifications can be a surprise, i.e. unintended consequences. The number of propositions we have has gotten out of control and I hate them. Voters lock in decisions they are clueless about and we then are stuck with the consequences.

[Raine]

20. TOTALLY agree, I despise them. I'm sick of having to do the work for the legislature , they're

getting paid and all they do is sit on their behinds!

[moonscape]

24. And we have someone to hold accountable. n/t

[tinrobot]

23. My default vote on propositions is "no"

It takes a lot to get a 'yes' out of me. The proposition system is incredibly broken.

[artemisia1]

19. It pays to remember that many people vote their pocketbook, not their moral compass. Sad, but

true. You have that 30%-40% of voters who will vote against ANY government oversight -- even in Blue California -- and a number of others who will not vote for something that will potentially raise rates on a service they use.

[ansible]

21. Raising Property Taxes in California is suicide

Whoever thinks this is a good idea is mad, the cost of living here is insane enough as it is.

[AlexSFCA]

36. the proposition was about commercial property only

[Hekate]

25. I keep trying to tell you guys, California is not the solid liberal paradise you think it is...

While I’m at it, may I point out that taking so much out of the Legislature and putting it up for direct popular vote (the “Propositions”) is a fricking stupid idea. We elect legislators to get into the details and legislate. Oh wait, we voted for term limits so just when an elected official is getting a good grasp on things, they get turfed out of office and like as not go find a job as a lobbyist.

My husband and I did what we always do: took all the recommendations from the Los Angeles Times (gravitas), the Santa Barbara Independent (liberal), and the League of Women Voters (impartial) and compared them. We looked at who is endorsing each Proposition: cui bono? We discuss it with each other.

The dialysis centers are a case in point. Prop 23 is something the Legislature should have hammered out, but it came up “from the people,” i.e. those who could raise enough money to get enough signatures on petitions. As near as we can tell, the bottom line is that trained sub-professionals are fully capable of running a modern dialysis center, and Prop 23 would have mandated that each one have an MD, NP, or PA on site. We are short of doctors, NPs, and PAs, and that would actually cause closures. You would not believe how many people are on dialysis to stay alive after their kidneys fail (often from the diabetes that is running rampant in the US).

But wait, there’s more. The Indy said vote Yes. The League of Women Voters was Neutral. The LA Times said they would not endorse because there was no evidence it would help patients, but was in fact being used improperly as a labor organizing tool. Say what? We ended up leaving the damn thing blank. We are pro-union as all get-out, but this is not the way to get there.

I’m not as grumpy as I sound just now & I didn’t mean to jump on you. This day when Joe Biden finally became the President-Elect has been emotionally exhausting, starting with tears and hyper-ventilation when I turned on the news early in the a.m., and ending with more tears watching Kamala and Joe speak in Delaware, and I have not slept well for 4 years anyway. Immediately after dinner I crashed on the couch and slept for 6 solid hours. My husband finally woke me up after 1 a.m. and suggested I go to actual bed. Now that I’ve done a few things, I will do that. It’s 3 a.m.

[RandiFan1290]

28. trump lost

[Renew Deal]

29. I thought I saw someone from the left was happy

Because she got everything she wanted out of them. I’m trying to remember who it was.

Didn’t a privacy one pass?

[BarackTheVote]

32. Here in the Land of Lincoln

It looks like we voted down a Constitutional amendment that would have allowed us to do a graduated tax. Which, with all the spending we’ve had to do during the pandemic, basically guarantees that EVERYONE’s gonna get a tax hike now. But the TV commercials lied out their ass about Fair Tax was, called it the Tax Hike Amendment and said that it would allow Springfield (people gets all riled up here whenever you mention Springfield cause “rawr politicians”) to raise your taxes... which they can do, anyway, any time they want...

Anyway... point is, we gotta do something about lying in political ads. Cigarettes can’t label themselves as good for your health, so there’s plenty of precedence there that when lies have dire consequences, that form of free speech is controlled, i.e., they can’t just out and out lie in advertising, or say X is good when X is verifiably bad—and what are political ads but advertising a candidate or a prop?

[Demsrule86]

33. This is a center left country...it seems even in blue California.

And sadly shows even in blue California, some policies won't happen. Uber and Lyft planned to cease doing business in California if it passed...that worked for them. Affirmative action is a very unpopular policy. And taxes are never popular. I am surprised anyone thought such would pass in even in California.

[BarackTheVote]

34. It's about messaging, Lebowski NT

[Zorro]

35. I would not characterize those propositions as "right wing"

California provides a voter information guide that provides a detailed analysis of every ballot proposition.

Current state law prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin. Prop 16 would change the law to allow discrimination for "affirmative action" reasons. Apparently the majority of voters preferred to keep the current law intact; an "affirmative action" exception could be exploited to diminish the effectiveness of current anti-discrimination legislation.

Prop 23 would require an on-site doctor at dialysis centers. That is a tremendous waste of critical resources; dialysis staff are well-prepared and experienced with treating dialysis patients. It is not surprising that this measure failed.