For the last three weeks, proletarians in the People’s Republic of California have been inundated with campaign ads for two gubernatorial candidates, billionaire Tom Steyer and machine Democrat office holder Xavier Becerra. Promos for the potato and f-word shot slinger Katie Porter are almost as rare as commercials supporting Steve Hilton, whose televised appearances outside the debate stage are primarily interviews on conservative media networks.
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In those debates, the primary qualification for governor on the Democrat side is hatred of Donald Trump — a longstanding political tactic that not only encourages repeated assassination attempts but also recently cost a Trump supporter in Escondido his life. For those same Democrat candidates, illegals in the state have been transformed into “immigrants” or “all Californians” or “our diverse community” — a group who, as Porter unintentionally confessed, are responsible for any growth the state has recently experienced. (Nothing is said, of course, about their contribution to the “growth” of rents, housing prices, state budgets, or ER crowds).
All the Democrats likewise tout the abolition of ICE with a passion that slanders these law enforcement officers as members of a “criminal” organization. The Dems also vow to save California’s environment from the evil fossil-fuel industry, a pledge they’ve already made good on by driving out refineries, shutting down drilling operations, and imposing regulatory burdens that recently led to Chevron’s threat to leave the state completely after having moved its corporate headquarters to Houston in 2025. (No mention is made of the fact that their climate change policies have also driven the state’s energy prices, including gasoline and electricity, through the roof.)
Steyer’s aforementioned ads tout the candidate as an agent of change, despite his being the largest financial supporter of Democrats for decades, the party that has long enjoyed a supermajority in Sacramento and since 2011 has held every statewide office. Since blaming his own party for California’s ills isn’t an option, Steyer rants against corporations whose money, he claims, has bought elections and whose greed has made life unaffordable in the state. So far, Steyer (whose billions were obtained via a corporate hedge fund and investments in businesses that include the fossil-fuel industry) has poured over a quarter-billion bucks (mostly his own) into the governor’s race. His cost-of-living solutions to make California affordable include a single-payer health care system for “all Californians” paid for by corporate taxes, as well as a government-funded project to build affordable houses.
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Becerra’s ads also focus on endorsements from some of California’s major union organizations that boosted his campaign poll numbers from mid-single digits to near the top of the heap after the former Democrat top dog, Eric Swalwell, dropped out of the race over his sex scandal. At least three of these unions, including SEIU, formerly supported Swalwell, a fact that suggests Becerra is the default candidate of California’s Democrat machine. Beyond union support, Becerra brags about beating Trump in lawsuits as California’s AG, helping pass ObamaCare, taking down big oil, and even being a vehicle to stop the avalanche of Steyer political ads.
Becerra’s personal and political links to the radical organization formerly known as La Raza (now UnidosUS) and thus to the Mexican government, won’t be used against him by Steyer or any other Democrat candidate, since the state with a large Anglo majority when it twice elected Ronald Reagan governor and backed the Gipper for President is now over 40% Hispanic and only a third Anglo. The same see-no-upside goes for criticizing Becerra’s “my family” links to the non-profit CHIRLA that’s also tied to Mexico’s leadership and illegal immigration.
As most readers likely know, California’s “jungle primary” lumps every candidate together on the ballot, regardless of party, and sends the top two of this year’s sixty-one gubernatorial hopefuls to the general election in November. Currently, Hilton (22%), Becerra (21%), and Steyer (15%) are the only real contenders in a recent Democratic Party poll. So one of these three is going to be the odd man out next Tuesday (or rather in a week or two from election day, given how California sends mail-in ballots capable of being “harvested” to all “active” registered voters and later “verifies their authenticity”). Unfortunately, even if Hilton gets into the fall election, his chances of winning are slim given the power of California’s union-led Democrat establishment and complicit media. But at least during this primary season, Californians get the rare opportunity to hear two Democrats “expose” each other — though often for the wrong reasons.
Richard Kirk is a freelance writer living in Southern California. His book Moral Illiteracy: “Who’s to Say?” is also available on Kindle, as is his book Poetry with a Moral Edge.
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Image: Public Domain