California Recalling

“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt

I opened my ballot to vote last night and there they were – 46 of the strangest candidates to replace Governor Newsome – from Angelyne (an eighties sex symbol who always drove around town in a bright pink car) to Caitlin Jenner (who left campaigning to film Celebrity Big Brother) and everything in between. There were a lot of fringe Republicans as well. 

Whether you like Newsome or not, it did seem like a no brainer to keep him in office. But there he is – a Democrat trying to get Democrats to vote for him in the recall. 

My son is very concerned about the election so I texted a lot of people who I knew were Democrats to remind them to vote. I had a few surprises. I wasn’t looking to be Newsome’s defender. 

I don’t think you can blame him for the spike in Covid cases or the Delta variant. He tried to keep us safe.  I’m an at risk person so Covid safety is a big concern for me. There is no rulebook on how to govern during a pandemic.  Trump made mask wearing political. My personal belief is if Trump had taken the virus seriously from the beginning, we would be in much better shape, and he would probably still be president. Everyone made mistakes.  

I vote no on the recall -not because I particularly like Newsome. The second question is troubling. It feels wrong to leave something this important blank. My mother always said if you dont know who they are vote fist for the Democrats, second for the women (Angelyne?,  the yoga teacher? Caitlin?) and third for the Jews.  None of that seemed to work this time with these absurd, colorful candidates. I thought about writing in my dog or my boyfriend as both seemed better choices but it didn’t seem ok to make more of a joke of it either. 

So I left it blank. Not because I was asked to but because more than half of those people have never taken a Civics class and the ones that did, believe in Trump. My hope is to choose the lesser evil this time and work toward finding someone who represents the best for California in the next election. 

Stay safe,

JAZ