Apologizes to the Readers

I know I don't have many, but I do have a few people who make my blog a part of their necessary daily antidote to the mainstream media, but I have been out of town since Thursday evening. I was in California. Some of my students wanted to witness true democracy in action, i.e. the California Recall, and I was somehow able to convince the university to fit the bill, so off we went, 15 of us, to watch something we might not be able to watch ever again, a recall election of a chief executive. The recall was even more informative to see in person, than it was watching it on television, some political analysts decried the "circus" atmosphere that surrounded the recall, and while that was evident, I was impressed by the over-all professionalism of the major candidates running to replace Gray Davis, Bustamante's campaign notwithstanding. While I disagreed with the recall in principle, I could not discount that the recall itself was a living example of "grass roots" politics in action. People were actually talking about the candidate's positions, which for someone who has made it his life's vocation to study the political landscape of this country, was extremely refreshing. In short, I disagreed with the recall as a general principle, but I cannot disagree with it's results, whenever the average citizen gets involved in the process, actively, our system benefits. Will this trend hold? Only time will tell, but it was great fun and extremely healthy for our republic.

And congratulations to the people of California for seeing past the last minute smear campaign against Swarzenegger, and making him your new governor. Arnold won with more votes than Davis did in the 2002 general election and he also won with a higher percentage of the vote than Davis did, and more people voted in the recall election than voted in the 2002 election. All in all, a total repudiation of Davis' policies and tenure as governor. Now, here's hoping you elected the right person. I believe you did. Good luck to you, California.