Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye
With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages.
Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down.
Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.
On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.
F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!). We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.
Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey. The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.
California’s Propaganda Warriors Have Work To Do
If California really is the heart of the Trump Resistance, our state’s propaganda warriors have some work to do.
While showdowns over climate policy and sanctuary cities mark the political skirmishes of the day, there is a broader battle to be waged. It falls to all of us — across the political spectrum — who were dismayed by the rise of Trumpism to do more than simply “resist.” If we want an alternative to Trumpism to take hold, it is our responsibility to articulate a coherent, realistic and palatable message and plan for our future.
That’s no easy task. The problems facing our nation, including California, are complex. I have tried in this space to explore and hash out some of our state’s most pressing issues in an honest, and clear-eyed way. The hope is to continue a conversation that can help develop understanding of our challenges and help policy makers make more informed decisions about the future of our state. (more…)
Would Trump Actually Consider Resignation?
It is difficult to imagine someone who has reached the pinnacle of world power resigning from the most coveted position our nation offers.
But if the conversation begins to go there, you can be sure Californians will be involved in the mix.
There has been only one resignation in the 229 years since the creation of the Republic, and that was Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president, who surrendered his office officially on August 9, 1974. Had he chosen to remain and face trial in the Senate, impeachment was a near certainty.
It so happens Nixon was also a Californian who as a U.S. Senator and then a Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower knew something about politics.
The circumstances which drove him to this momentous decision stemmed from the now infamous break-in at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in Washington D.C.’s Watergate building and the subsequent cover-up. (more…)
The Arrogance of Blue America
In the wake of the Trumpocalypse, many in the deepest blue cores have turned on those parts of America that supported the president’s election, developing oikophobia—an irrational fear of their fellow citizens.
The rage against red America is so strong that The New York Time’s predictably progressive Nick Kristoff says his calls to understand red voters were “my most unpopular idea.” The essential logic—as laid out in a particularly acerbic piece in The New Republic—is that Trump’s America is not only socially deplorable, but economically moronic as well. The kind-hearted blue staters have sent their industries to the abodes of the unwashed, and taken in their poor, only to see them end up “more bitter, white, and alt-right than ever.”
The red states, by electing Trump, seem to have lost any claim on usually wide-ranging progressive empathy. Frank Rich, theater critic turned pundit, turns up his nose at what he calls “hillbilly chic.” Another leftist author suggests that working-class support for Brexit and Trump means it is time “to dissolve” the “more than 150-year-old alliance between the industrial working class and what one might call the intellectual-cultural Left.” (more…)
Trust Govt. to Spend New Money as Promised? The Record is Not Good
Reassurances to taxpayers about proper management of new revenue on the state and local level is too often ignored by politicians once the money is secured. Recent examples of attempts to spend money differently than promised are common—but it’s an old story, as well.
The legislature passed the gas tax and vehicle license fee increase amid promises that the money would go to the much-needed repair of transportation infrastructure. Before the governor had a chance to sign the bill, Democratic politicians were proposing ways to spend the money that were far afield from the transportation goals such as repairing restrooms in state parks.
Part of the promises made on the use of the new gas tax money is that voters will have a chance to pass a constitutional amendment in an election next year to assure that the money will be spent for transportation purposes. However, the new taxes will start coming in this year and many dollars will be spent before any guarantee is put in place. How much revenue will the constitutional guarantee protect and what might be spent of the new revenue before that guarantee is in place? (more…)
Why Some Experts Say a Court Just Created a New Pathway to “Tax” Californians
Could a few words buried within a recent court ruling make it easier for the state to raise money from Californians?
Those words—contained within a decision affirming the constitutionality of California’s policy of charging polluters—are causing a stir among some state budget experts, who wonder if the ruling could be used to could pry loose constitutional constraints that have long restricted lawmakers’ ability to increase taxes.
In its 2-to-1 ruling, California’s 3rd District Court of Appeal declared that the state’s cap-and-trade climate program is neither a tax nor a fee—the two categories into which state jurists have traditionally slotted all revenue raisers—but falls into a mysterious none of the above category.
Such semantic distinctions matter in California because the state constitution puts tight restrictions on lawmakers’ ability to raise money from taxpayers. Voters in 1978 passed the most famous of these restrictions, property-tax-cutting Proposition 13, which also lifted the legislative threshold for new state and local tax hikes from a simple majority to a two-thirds “supermajority.” (more…)
Gas Tax Increase Could–and Should–Have Been Prevented
It’s the same old song and dance again in Sacramento. Only this time it’s to the tune of $450 per year for every California household. Under the guise of solving California’s infrastructure problems, politicians in Sacramento passed one of the largest tax hikes in recent history.
In another hit against hard-working Californians, Sacramento just increased the gas tax by 43 percent in addition to raising the car tax. Families relying on their vehicles to make a living will now find their budget under even more strain while the state collects an additional $52 billion over 10 years.
Living by a budget is something that we all have had to learn at one point or another. Unfortunately, the state has yet to learn this valuable lesson. They continue to spend money they don’t have knowing that hard-working taxpayers will pick up the tab. (more…)