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Propositions Won or Lost because of Money, Media, and Meaning, Solutions 2021 are Needed
California delivered a landslide for a Democratic president, and yet gave majorities to Republican positions on state propositions. Why?
Why was there a landslide for the Democratic presidential candidate, and yet majority votes for Republican positions on California’s propositions? In my November blog email I asked that question, and received 60-some thought-provoking responses.
People agreed that many voters were focused on the presidential race — and pretty clear about their preferences — and not focused much on other ballot items including propositions.
The reasons for the proposition results could be summed up as Money, Media, and Meaning — which are all interrelated, as everything is, problems and solutions, ecology and economy, everyone and everything.
MONEY. According to preliminary data, the winning side spent more money than the losing side in 9 out of 12 propositions. Prop 22 saw Uber, DoorDash, Lyft and others outspend their opposition 10 times over, spending more than $200 million to convince people Prop 22 was great for drivers. Regarding Prop 23 about dialysis clinics, the winning side also spent 10 times more. Regarding the closest votes — stem cell research, taxing commercial properties, and changing some property tax rules (Props 14, 15, and 19 respectively) — money won.
MEDIA. Responders pointed out that "media are a major, routinely underrated factor." And it’s not just the paid ads that are everywhere, including, increasingly, the internet, it’s the regular news. A story from my own experience. In 2010 right after the global financial melt-down, I ran as a Green Party candidate for Governor to bring the message of "follow the money, tax the rich, and implement public banking" to California. Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman were also running. Whitman was an eBay billionaire who spent between $140 and $170 million of her own money in the race. I realized that if I were given the choice between getting that much money in my own campaign coffers, or getting the news coverage and debate time she got for free, I would take the news and the debates! People would see Greens as viable candidates and we would talk about viable solutions. What a delight that would be.
MEANING. Many people spoke of the difficulty of dealing with a dozen propositions that are both hard to understand at face value, and even harder to understand how they would be implemented. There were bills that even endorsers with similar values endorsed differently, because the propositions had some good parts and some bad. People tend toward "no" — in other words "no change" — if they don’t understand a proposition. When we move toward a real grassroots democracy, we can implement Citizens’ Initiative Reviews and other citizen assemblies composed of regular people who study the issues and review or even create proposals.
PROPOSITIONS AND MONEY CHART NOTES
Acknowledgement: Thanks to Marsha Feinland of the Peace and Freedom Party for her presentation on state propositions, including her informative chart on how much money was spent
Colors: RED means Republican endorsements won; ORANGE means money won
(na): Endorsement was neutral, or no position
Dash: In the money column means under $100,000, far less than a million dollars
WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?
My January 2021 blog will be about what the Biden administration can do, with NO EXCUSES and NO HONEYMOON. Many crucial steps can be taken in the first 100 days. The worst pandemic of our lives is happening now, alongside a depressed economy and threatened planet.
My list includes expanded and improved Medicare for All, sane climate policy, universal basic income, debt-free education, community policing, whistleblower protection, public banking, and elimination of blockades and sanctions against other countries. I can hear people asking, "How do we pay for all that?" I would say, let's consider how expensive the current policies are, in healthcare, the environment, the economy, criminal justice, and our foreign policy and the military.
I would love to read in the comments your list of what we should push — and push and push — for in 2021.
People agreed that many voters were focused on the presidential race — and pretty clear about their preferences — and not focused much on other ballot items including propositions.
The reasons for the proposition results could be summed up as Money, Media, and Meaning — which are all interrelated, as everything is, problems and solutions, ecology and economy, everyone and everything.
MONEY. According to preliminary data, the winning side spent more money than the losing side in 9 out of 12 propositions. Prop 22 saw Uber, DoorDash, Lyft and others outspend their opposition 10 times over, spending more than $200 million to convince people Prop 22 was great for drivers. Regarding Prop 23 about dialysis clinics, the winning side also spent 10 times more. Regarding the closest votes — stem cell research, taxing commercial properties, and changing some property tax rules (Props 14, 15, and 19 respectively) — money won.
MEDIA. Responders pointed out that "media are a major, routinely underrated factor." And it’s not just the paid ads that are everywhere, including, increasingly, the internet, it’s the regular news. A story from my own experience. In 2010 right after the global financial melt-down, I ran as a Green Party candidate for Governor to bring the message of "follow the money, tax the rich, and implement public banking" to California. Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman were also running. Whitman was an eBay billionaire who spent between $140 and $170 million of her own money in the race. I realized that if I were given the choice between getting that much money in my own campaign coffers, or getting the news coverage and debate time she got for free, I would take the news and the debates! People would see Greens as viable candidates and we would talk about viable solutions. What a delight that would be.
MEANING. Many people spoke of the difficulty of dealing with a dozen propositions that are both hard to understand at face value, and even harder to understand how they would be implemented. There were bills that even endorsers with similar values endorsed differently, because the propositions had some good parts and some bad. People tend toward "no" — in other words "no change" — if they don’t understand a proposition. When we move toward a real grassroots democracy, we can implement Citizens’ Initiative Reviews and other citizen assemblies composed of regular people who study the issues and review or even create proposals.
PROPOSITIONS AND MONEY CHART NOTES
Acknowledgement: Thanks to Marsha Feinland of the Peace and Freedom Party for her presentation on state propositions, including her informative chart on how much money was spent
Colors: RED means Republican endorsements won; ORANGE means money won
(na): Endorsement was neutral, or no position
Dash: In the money column means under $100,000, far less than a million dollars
WHAT CAN WE DO NOW?
My January 2021 blog will be about what the Biden administration can do, with NO EXCUSES and NO HONEYMOON. Many crucial steps can be taken in the first 100 days. The worst pandemic of our lives is happening now, alongside a depressed economy and threatened planet.
My list includes expanded and improved Medicare for All, sane climate policy, universal basic income, debt-free education, community policing, whistleblower protection, public banking, and elimination of blockades and sanctions against other countries. I can hear people asking, "How do we pay for all that?" I would say, let's consider how expensive the current policies are, in healthcare, the environment, the economy, criminal justice, and our foreign policy and the military.
I would love to read in the comments your list of what we should push — and push and push — for in 2021.
For more information:
https://laurawells.org/propositions-money-...
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Elections only reflect the class struggle that has preceded them. Protests are helpful and should continue, but until we see a serious labor movement, the protests do not get far. The most obvious case on point are the protests against police state terrorism. We have seen the protests against the police state for the past 400 years. We only advanced when labor became more integrated and put anti-discrimination clauses in their union contracts. As you may know, labor unions were active participants in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, including making monetary contributions as well as providing the foot soldiers. With that kind of solidarity, the Democrats had to sit up and take notice, passing the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
This year's election was in many ways no different from previous elections. In California, 17 million people voted out of 26 million citizen adults. That means, as usual, many members of the workingclass did not vote and it is the workingclass, those of us who sell our labor for less than $80,000 a year, who are most of the non-voters.
Because it was a higher voter turnout, the 2016 election had 14 million voters, it was an improved election turnout and results. Your chart shows percentages for and against each proposition which are instructive.
Prop 14: The stem cell research bond had 2 strikes against it. First, it was a bond, putting us in debt. Second, the anti-abortion crowd objects to fetal stem cell research. Yet it got a majority 51% of the vote, despite those 2 objections.
Prop 15: This was the long overdue effort to overturn the infamous Prop 13 of 1978 limiting property taxes so as to have a split roll so that commercial property may be taxed more. Despite the hysteria of property owners in opposing Prop 15, it still won 48% of the vote. Now that our state budget is bankrupt, a rewrite of this one on the November 2022 ballot might pass.
Prop 16: Affirmative action is always a difficult proposition to sell to voters who are overwhelmingly property owners and are true believers in the lie that we live in an egalitarian society where only hard work is necessary to advance. Yet, despite this stupidity, 42% of the voters supported it. A rewrite of this one on the November 2022 ballot might pass, when California will be even more nonwhite than it already is. The majority of the voters, unlike the majority of the population, is still white, non-Hispanic. That will be reversed by November 2022.
Prop 17: We won restoration of the right to vote after a prison term with 58% of the vote because the Democrats need votes and California prides itself on being more advanced than Florida.
Prop 18: Asking voters, the majority of whom are over age 50, to allow 17-year-olds to vote in the primary if they will be 18 in time for the general election is asking a lot, especially since this is the first time on the ballot. Yet, even with this being the first time, it got 44% of the vote. We should see this on the November 2022 ballot when it might pass. Young people will have to go door to door in their neighborhoods to get this to pass. Just seeing their young faces will help this pass.
Prop 19: Changing property tax rules passed with 51% of the vote.
Prop 20: Reactionary parole restrictions for certain offenses failed with 61% voting No. The anti-prison movement is very strong in California and property owners do not want to pay more for prisons.
Prop 21: Expanding rent control is always difficult to pass on the ballot since most voters are property owners and many are also landlords. Yet, it still received 40% of the vote. This one MUST be on the ballot on November 2022 with whatever rewrite is possible and a strong labor-based campaign to get it to pass.
Prop 22: The anti-labor scab cab promotional had lots of money behind it and not much labor campaigning against it. Yet, despite the weak opposition, 41% voted No. Labor must always send out slick mailers in September, do more prime time TV ads in Sept-Oct and send people door to door to push pro-labor people to the polls from October 1 through Election Day. Either the Legislature must pass a new law or this must be overturned with a ballot measure in the November 2022 election.
Prop 23: The kidney dialysis proposition did not have strong support in slick mailers and TV ads, causing it to fail with 63% voting no. It was supposed to stop discrimination but not much was made of that issue.
Prop 24: This proposition to amend consumer privacy laws passed with 56% of the vote, despite the confusion as there seemed to be pro-consumer groups on both sides.
Prop 25: Eliminating money bail is a worthy cause but most voters have nothing to do with the criminal justice system, yet it managed to receive 43% of the vote because enough fuss has been made about this issue by local district attorneys, such as in San Francisco. There is also the factor of insurance company opposition to abolishing money bail, although it is not clear how important that is. This should be on the November 2022 ballot as a rewrite.
All of the issues listed as being important for the first 100 days can only be addressed with a strong labor movement.
This year's election was in many ways no different from previous elections. In California, 17 million people voted out of 26 million citizen adults. That means, as usual, many members of the workingclass did not vote and it is the workingclass, those of us who sell our labor for less than $80,000 a year, who are most of the non-voters.
Because it was a higher voter turnout, the 2016 election had 14 million voters, it was an improved election turnout and results. Your chart shows percentages for and against each proposition which are instructive.
Prop 14: The stem cell research bond had 2 strikes against it. First, it was a bond, putting us in debt. Second, the anti-abortion crowd objects to fetal stem cell research. Yet it got a majority 51% of the vote, despite those 2 objections.
Prop 15: This was the long overdue effort to overturn the infamous Prop 13 of 1978 limiting property taxes so as to have a split roll so that commercial property may be taxed more. Despite the hysteria of property owners in opposing Prop 15, it still won 48% of the vote. Now that our state budget is bankrupt, a rewrite of this one on the November 2022 ballot might pass.
Prop 16: Affirmative action is always a difficult proposition to sell to voters who are overwhelmingly property owners and are true believers in the lie that we live in an egalitarian society where only hard work is necessary to advance. Yet, despite this stupidity, 42% of the voters supported it. A rewrite of this one on the November 2022 ballot might pass, when California will be even more nonwhite than it already is. The majority of the voters, unlike the majority of the population, is still white, non-Hispanic. That will be reversed by November 2022.
Prop 17: We won restoration of the right to vote after a prison term with 58% of the vote because the Democrats need votes and California prides itself on being more advanced than Florida.
Prop 18: Asking voters, the majority of whom are over age 50, to allow 17-year-olds to vote in the primary if they will be 18 in time for the general election is asking a lot, especially since this is the first time on the ballot. Yet, even with this being the first time, it got 44% of the vote. We should see this on the November 2022 ballot when it might pass. Young people will have to go door to door in their neighborhoods to get this to pass. Just seeing their young faces will help this pass.
Prop 19: Changing property tax rules passed with 51% of the vote.
Prop 20: Reactionary parole restrictions for certain offenses failed with 61% voting No. The anti-prison movement is very strong in California and property owners do not want to pay more for prisons.
Prop 21: Expanding rent control is always difficult to pass on the ballot since most voters are property owners and many are also landlords. Yet, it still received 40% of the vote. This one MUST be on the ballot on November 2022 with whatever rewrite is possible and a strong labor-based campaign to get it to pass.
Prop 22: The anti-labor scab cab promotional had lots of money behind it and not much labor campaigning against it. Yet, despite the weak opposition, 41% voted No. Labor must always send out slick mailers in September, do more prime time TV ads in Sept-Oct and send people door to door to push pro-labor people to the polls from October 1 through Election Day. Either the Legislature must pass a new law or this must be overturned with a ballot measure in the November 2022 election.
Prop 23: The kidney dialysis proposition did not have strong support in slick mailers and TV ads, causing it to fail with 63% voting no. It was supposed to stop discrimination but not much was made of that issue.
Prop 24: This proposition to amend consumer privacy laws passed with 56% of the vote, despite the confusion as there seemed to be pro-consumer groups on both sides.
Prop 25: Eliminating money bail is a worthy cause but most voters have nothing to do with the criminal justice system, yet it managed to receive 43% of the vote because enough fuss has been made about this issue by local district attorneys, such as in San Francisco. There is also the factor of insurance company opposition to abolishing money bail, although it is not clear how important that is. This should be on the November 2022 ballot as a rewrite.
All of the issues listed as being important for the first 100 days can only be addressed with a strong labor movement.
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