Hunting The Muse

Politics and political choices *rarely* if ever are presented as "if A happens, then B will follow..." and even though it might seem logical to some to think in those terms, there are an unfortunate number of Americans who get pumped up on their ideals, let their mind be inflated by promises or strong words and never get to the point of seeing cause and effect (big freaking example? The Iraq War. It was near impossible to talk cause/effect to pro-war folks before and during the war… only now that people are dazed and confused and doubtful is there room to talk about mistakes, consequences and long-term effects.). As the effects of Schwartzy develop over time, I expect a number of "wait, why did we do this?" calls to be heard.

For instance, all the hooplah stirred up about Davis might have gotten people all excited about their power to kick him out and even if they weren't a fan of him, it doesn't surprise me that some never made the connection that no Davis meant yes to Schwartzy.

But besides people not thinking for themselves, politics is rarely clear and direct but instead is often intentionally confusing, misleading and manipulative.

You can't exactly pit 44% against 41% and really make a direct correlation that more people wanted Davis than Schwarzenegger.

When given two choices, 44% chose Davis. When given 135 choices, 41% chose Schwarzenegger. If you put Davis in the options list for the second vote and removed the first, he would most definitely have had fewer votes.

Even so, if McClintock had not stayed in the race and you were just considering the two top runners (to make vote 1 comparable to vote 2), Shwarzenegger most likely would have received more than 3% of McClintock's votes (probably around 10-12%) - so he definitely would have won.

But yes, I do agree that elections are ridiculous and half the voters out there have no logic and vote for whoever likes the same kind of fast food they do. The whole thing is a joke - though I hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We'll see what happens from here...will his administration be able to make positive changes? Who knows...

The election wasn't just about who people thought the best governor would be. It was also about whether or not the recall was a sham. There were a lot of people that voted against the recall even while disapproving of Davis, because of the principle of the matter. According to the above numbers (they might be different now I realize), 44% of the people thought Davis should have been able to serve out his term, even if many of them didn't like him. Many of them voted for Schwarzenegger as their second choice. 41% voted for Arnie as first choice. I get that you're saying that if it were a straight vote, Davis would have easily lost, but the point is that it wasn't a straight vote, and it shouldn't be seen that way, because the recall process was abused, and many people saw it that was and voted accordingly.

The simple reality is that the structure of the recall voting system was not an efficient way to judge the social choice. It's rigged in a way to put the incumbent at a disadvantage. Davis - whether for pro-Davis *or for anti-recall* reasons - got a plurality, and more support than Schwarzenegger. I get that Arnie won "fair and square" according to the rules, but that doesn't mean the rules were consistent with democracy.

California's messed up anyway. 2/3 majority to raise taxes, but not to cut taxes? What's up with that? Economies are volatile. This crap is going to happen over and over again.