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.
The Future of Racial Politics
From its inception, the American experiment has been dogged by racial issues. Sadly, this was even truer this year. Eight years after electing the first African-American president, not only are race relations getting worse, according to surveys, but the electorate remains as ethnically dividedas in any time of recent history.
Donald Trump has emerged in most media accounts as the candidate of Anglo voters, with a margin of 21 percentage points over Hillary Clinton among that segment of the electorate. Clinton’s embrace of “identity” politics may have played a role in turning off many of these white non-Hispanic voters, who might otherwise had voted Democratic.
Many Democrats maintain still, with some justification, that as demographics evolve over the next decade, the increasingly diverse electorate will reward their identification with racial minorities. The country, and the electorate, seem destined to become ever less white in the coming decades. Between 2000 and 2015, the nation’s population makeup became increasingly minority, from 31 percent to 38 percent. This trend will continue, with the country conceivably becoming 45 percent non-white by 2030 and 53 percent by 2050. (more…)
US Labor Secretary-Nominee Flees CA Business Climate
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as Labor Secretary, Andrew Puzder, heads a California company that decided to move headquarters to Tennessee. His reasoning: California’s suffocating regulatory business climate.
Labor and union supporters immediately attacked Puzder, head of CKE Restaurants that operates Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants, when news of the pending appointment became public. Pudzer opposed California’s $15 minimum wage and has predicted that iPads and robots would soon take over some restaurant jobs.
However, Puzder has defended his statements in the past declaring that it is government policies that drive up the cost of labor to a point that employers must turn to automation to maintain the thin profit margins restaurants offer. (more…)
Remembering John Glenn in California
In 1983 John Glenn decided to explore a run for president. He had been a senator from Ohio for nearly 10 years. Joe Cerrell, the legendary Los Angeles Democratic consultant, had connections to some of Glenn’s aides so Glenn asked Joe to show him around California and test his prospects. I had been with the Cerrell firm for about five years at the time and I went along to many of the events.
1983 was not a long way removed from Glenn’s famous 1962 space travels, the first American to orbit the globe and everywhere we went Glenn was a rock star. We dealt with a lot of hardened Democratic Party veterans who were used to meeting political figures, but John Glenn was different. Everyone knew the astronaut. He used to carry pictures along with him and sign autographs. (more…)
CA and USA: The Thrill is Gone
Que B.B. King’s “The Thrill is gone.”
Face it, California, the rest of America doesn’t love you anymore. There won’t be a Calexit divorce. But America, especially all those Trump voters in Flyover Country, doesn’t listen and doesn’t care. You’re the neglected spouse. You voted 62 percent for Hillary, but she still lost to brutish Donald Trump, who didn’t even campaign out here after the primary, instead courting the swing states back east.
On taxes, Americans voted for Trump, who is working with Congress to implement his tax-cut promises. Out here, Californians voted for three tax increases: on incomes, tobacco and grocery bags. (more…)
House Passes Water Bill
(Editor’s Note: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $10 billion water bill that includes $558 million for drought stricken California. Congressman Kevin McCarthy and Senator Dianne Feinstein teamed up on the bi-partisan measure. Senator Barbara Boxer opposes the measure, which now heads to the Senate. The vote was 360-61, with 222 Republicans and 138 Democrats backing the bill. Congressman McCarthy’s full comments in support of the bill can be found here. Below are excerpts from his comments.)
As we all know, the drought is an act of nature. It is one of those troubles that we can respond to and prepare for, but not prevent. Yet our own government—the federal government—has not only failed to prepare for this drought; they have exacerbated it. Water that could have been used in homes or on farms has been sent out to sea. Water that could have been stored by building new reservoirs was lost. Water—our most precious resource—has been wasted. (more…)
I Got Protested in the Basque Country
The week before Thanksgiving, I served again as co-president of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy. This is a network of journalists, scholars, election administrators, experts in public participation, and activists who work in direct and participatory democracy. We get together about every two years or so to compare notes.
Our gathering this November was in Donostia-San Sebastian, the seaside resort in the Basque Country.
On the forum’s opening night, I walked along the bay to Donostia-San Sebastian’s city hall, which is right next to the city carousel. But between the carousel and city hall, I was met my protestors—about 100 people, carrying various signs, some in English, some in Spanish, one in Basque. It took me a few minutes to realize their target:
Me. (more…)