• tricky California Propositions, 5, 39, 40

    From Pluted Pup@plutedpup@outlook.com to rec.arts.tv on Tue Oct 20 00:27:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    California's legislature written Proposition 5 near-abolishes
    Recall elections, like for Governor, by elimination of
    elected successors, replacing them with appointments or
    in-line successors, like successfully recalling the
    Governor automatically appoints the Lieutenant Governor as
    Governor. Of course the present system is better, as it's
    more democratic than appointments by the politicians in
    power. I remember the politicking a few years with the
    attempted recall of the Governor, the powerful political
    organization The Associated Press issues an article
    giving cogent reasons for recall, as did the statement
    position of the Republican Party (though they didn't
    endorse any successor) in the General Election state mass
    mailing, however a few months later the AP only ran articles
    attacking the very concept of recall elections as fascist!
    So voters disapproved of the recall, and now the legislature
    is attacking voters for even considering it. The State
    recall ability is a century old and a valuable tool against
    corruption, as it was always intended to be. So a NO vote
    for Proposition 5, despite the media's claims that the
    Public is always stupider than it's already elected
    politicians.

    I'll probably vote for Proposition 39, supposedly a voter
    ID measure, but am not sure. It ignores the most urgent
    fault of California Elections which is the compulsory
    absentee balloting sent to every voter since 2020; call it
    what you like, but it is an absentee ballot, and it is
    compulsory, there is no Opt-Out or Opt-In. To put it in
    perspective California used to have Opt-In absentee balloting,
    but since 2020 it has been forced. The media, like usual,
    deliberately seeks to confuse the issue by claiming that
    any criticism of the status quo designates an opponent of
    the very concept of voting. There may be a grain of truth
    in the opposition, that there is Trump politicking in this Prop
    39, why else leave out the question of the forced absentee
    ballot? To "let Trump take care of it" because the practice
    is illegal by state and federal law? It's stupid to wait
    for Trump.

    Proposition 40 is the opposite of a "graduated income tax",
    which I support and may as well start, and would perhaps have
    if the issue wasn't so universally taboo in the media,
    whether by Bernie Sanders or the The Wall Street Journal. A
    step down from Progressive Taxation is asset taxes, and these are
    well accepted, like with Real Estate taxes. But this so-called
    "Billionaires Tax" are not even asset taxes but more like
    fines. I guessed this correctly when I saw the pro and con
    arguments that referred only to "whys" with no references to
    "how". The state mailing confirmed this although it tells me
    that there's a buffering between 1 and 1.1 billion dollars but
    basically it's like this: own 1 dollar less than a billion and
    no tax is incurred in this Proposition, but with one additional
    dollar a tax of 50,000,000 dollars is assessed. That's a fine,
    not a tax. I figure this proposition is deliberately badly
    written so as to be successfully fought off in the courts, so
    it can serve as Symbolism rather than as actual activism, as it
    is already doing. As a member of the Public I'm being told
    that opposition to Prop 40 means I don't think the rich should
    be taxed, but I do, which is why I oppose Prop 40. This is
    a corrupt means of taxation. As a machiavellian proposal to
    corrupt the tax system, moving from taxes to fines, spurring
    opposition to any tax for the sake of opposing taxes itself?
    Not even the picture of the teary sad face of opponent Sergei
    Brin has convinced me I should vote for this deliberately badly
    written law.

    So these are just cursory looks into the Propositions I just
    happened to notice. What else is hidden in them? I suppose
    whenever there's a political issue, the public is always
    treated to the Whys but not the Hows, which accords with the
    "The People Are S---" attitude that should be considered to be
    so offensive. Why should I care who supports or opposes each
    measure? They never say why if they cannot say how.













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  • From BTR1701@no_email@invalid.invalid to rec.arts.tv on Tue Oct 20 18:38:19 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> wrote:

    California's legislature written Proposition 5 near-abolishes
    Recall elections, like for Governor, by elimination of
    elected successors, replacing them with appointments or
    in-line successors, like successfully recalling the
    Governor automatically appoints the Lieutenant Governor as
    Governor.

    This is just the entrenched machine trying to insulate itself from the democracy they're always saying is so important and needs to be protected
    from the evol Orange Man. But the moment the people try to actually
    practice that democracy, the reptiles do everything they can to stop it.

    Vote no.

    I'll probably vote for Proposition 39, supposedly a voter
    ID measure, but am not sure. It ignores the most urgent
    fault of California Elections which is the compulsory
    absentee balloting sent to every voter since 2020

    It may not solve every problem but it will add a sorely needed layer of election security that is currently lacking. There's no rational
    non-criminal reason to oppose it.

    Vote yes.

    call it what you like, but it is an absentee ballot, and it is
    compulsory, there is no Opt-Out or Opt-In.

    You can't opt out of receiving the ballot but you don't have to use it. I
    go in person to vote out of principle and to forestall the day when Newsom
    or his mini-me replacement, that doorknob Javier Bacaria, decides we don't
    even need polling places anymore and tries to eliminate them.

    Proposition 40 is the opposite of a "graduated income tax",
    which I support and may as well start, and would perhaps have
    if the issue wasn't so universally taboo in the media,
    whether by Bernie Sanders or the The Wall Street Journal. A
    step down from Progressive Taxation is asset taxes, and these are
    well accepted, like with Real Estate taxes. But this so-called
    "Billionaires Tax" are not even asset taxes but more like
    fines. I guessed this correctly when I saw the pro and con
    arguments that referred only to "whys" with no references to
    "how". The state mailing confirmed this although it tells me
    that there's a buffering between 1 and 1.1 billion dollars but
    basically it's like this: own 1 dollar less than a billion and
    no tax is incurred in this Proposition, but with one additional
    dollar a tax of 50,000,000 dollars is assessed. That's a fine,
    not a tax. I figure this proposition is deliberately badly
    written so as to be successfully fought off in the courts, so
    it can serve as Symbolism rather than as actual activism, as it
    is already doing. As a member of the Public I'm being told
    that opposition to Prop 40 means I don't think the rich should
    be taxed, but I do, which is why I oppose Prop 40. This is
    a corrupt means of taxation. As a machiavellian proposal to
    corrupt the tax system, moving from taxes to fines, spurring
    opposition to any tax for the sake of opposing taxes itself?
    Not even the picture of the teary sad face of opponent Sergei
    Brin has convinced me I should vote for this deliberately badly
    written law.

    There's also language buried in Prop 40 which quietly gives the Assembly
    the authority to expand this asset tax to anyone they like-- not just billionaires-- with a 2/3rds vote and no requirement of voter approval.

    So basically once they get their foot in the door by taxing billionaires,
    as their insatiable craving for more and more of our money grows, next
    it'll be millionaires, then everyone. Especially as those high earners
    leave the state to avoid the tax, they're going to need to expand it to everyone else to make up for the loss.

    Vote no on 40 and yes on 41 and 42.
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