As promised, I would spend a bit more time on the Dorsman’s family holiday expedition to California. I won’t bore you with a string of photos as they would be quite similar to last year’s collection, but try my hand at a more descriptive assessment of what caught my eye.

Alternative Lifestyles
The first stop on our way south was the cute town of Ashland, Oregon, renowned for its annual Shakespeare Festival and related cultural activities. We decided to stay an extra day and explore the environment a bit; the downtown stroll is definitely worth your time with a range of interesting shops and excellent restaurants and coffee shops. Our girls were fascinated by one particular store with lots of women’s clothes or – in their minds – princess dresses. We walked in and it became apparent quite quickly that more than just fashion was on the agenda: children’s clothing, accessories and postcards allowed us some serious browsing time. While Irene and the kids spent time with pink flamingo outfits, my level of alertness was raised when in a corner I discovered a “bondage kit for beginners”. Of course, we are no longer judgmental about these things, do as you like, but I had a hard time picturing some of the Ashland residents tying each other up for fun, or is live in Southern Oregon that boring? The alarm levels however went up after inspecting the little rack of baby clothes; buying a shirt for a newborn with the words “hot babe” on it is entering the territory of the morally depraved. Time to become judgmental again, I thought.

It wasn’t like we had walked into a seedy store or anything, no, judging from the prices and the clientele we had walked into the favorite shopping haunt of Ashland’s cultured female elites. And if you think a combination of fashion, sex tools and edgy kid clothes pointed in that direction, then the check-out and gadget part of the store really nailed it. The “Bush Lied, Thousands Died” bumper stickers, the Che Guevara postcards and the fridge magnets suggesting it was time to impeach the current president completed the picture. Surely it was time to take a picture for the blog? Forget it. Ashland’s cultural elites are not that confident about their alternative way of as an ample number of in-store signs prohibited taking any pictures.

There is a brighter side to alternative lifestyles and in the same block we discovered the vegetarian Pilaf Restaurant which scooped the best restaurant award this year, miles ahead of the competition.

Hospitality
We recharged the batteries at The Chase Hotel in Palm Springs, one of the few hotels – and I have seen many – on this planet where a relaxed atmosphere, hospitality and care for the patrons are of paramount importance to the owners and the staff. The splendid and well-decorated rooms overlooking the palm lined pool and the desert mountains come at a very reasonable price and additional services such as wireless access, fruit, cookies, pool towels, even a Christmas tree in the girls’ room, all came without charge. In fact, you need to rack up a spectacular phone bill to incur any additional charges on your bill. Where do you find that these days?

The key to this is probably the fact that owner Craig and wife Kathleen do not have a background in the hotel business and run it the way they see fit, unencumbered by any corporate constraints. Together with an excellent management team they not only made our stay enjoyable, we made many new friends at the Chase which by the way was named after the owner’s dog. The one thing however that I still haven’t figured out was why on earth the hotel got a Christmas card from Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.

Overdevelopment
Apart from the pool, the menu in the Coachella Valley centers on discovering the desert and hiking. Of course, with a five an three year old your range is limited but in both the Indian Canyons and the Joshua Tree National Park there are numerous trails ranging from easy to strenuous and from short to long. And the drives are spectacular, as soon as you’re out of the urban areas it is sparsely populated land with only the odd sign remembering you of the nearby civilization. “Take the US out of the UN”, care of the John Birch Society was one of my favorites, but the message was so obvious that I didn’t bother to stop and take a picture.

The one problem though is that the property and retirement boom is swallowing up huge chunks of the desert and although the map gives you the feeling that the Coachella Valley and the LA area are separated and somewhat distant, in reality they aren’t. And it is not just on the ground that you notice the march forward, from the higher altitudes of Joshua Tree Park you can clearly see the urban smog levels entering the valley and beyond. While I instinctively would never argue against progress and development, I do believe that Southern California needs a serious rethink of land use and apply some tighter environmental policies. And what about the sustainability of pumping increasing amounts of water from the north to the south? Schwarzenegger should look to that other conservative California Governor who in the late 1960s implemented – albeit somewhat reluctantly – the first comprehensive plans to salvage huge chunks of the state’s pristine and unique beauty.

History
If you’re into it a detour to the hamlet of Chiriaco Summit (photo above) allows you to visit the George S. Patton Memorial Museum. Several places in the world have laid claim to the general’s legacy but this slice of barren desert was indeed selected by Patton as the training grounds for US forces prior to embarking for North Africa in 1942. As a reminder, the Germans at the time were perilously close to breaking the British defenses in Egypt’s desert in which case they would have direct access to the Middle East oil fiends. The area got the following quote from Patton:

“if you can work in this country, it will be no difficulty at all to kill the assorted sons of bitches you will meet in any other country”

The irony is that these days it is the Germans - according to hotel owner Craig - who strip down to their swimming gear to get a suntan in the sweltering heat of mid-summer, an activity that most other nationalities wisely stay far away from.

Weirdness
The other thing about California that always strikes me is the high incidence of weirdos and fringe material. You find them on a number of ends of the spectrum, from the superblond, botoxed, septuagenarian retiree to the down and out drug addict sleeping on the sidewalk to the LA rejects who have somehow eked out a living in desert outposts like Boron. Again, it’s not unusual anywhere, but in California you just get more of it.

The best example was the township of Nice on Highway 20 in Northern California. We stopped in this picturesque village for the morning coffee and to take in the lake and the rolling green hills of the sparsely populated wine country. Maeve, our youngest insisted we visit the playground and after ordering our lattes we walked over, but instantly noticed the other ‘kids’ in the playground. Twentysomethings, high on drugs and by the look of it they had spent the night between the swing and the slides. Not a good idea to join them for a round of fun, but try and explain that to a three-year old. No sooner had we decided to walk back to the car or the next group of teenagers strolled by accompanied by a few muscular pit bulls. Even on my own that is something to get me highly uncomfortable, but with the family in tow it was time to get in the car and move on. The point of course is, how these big city scourges could ever have become mainstream rural phenomena?

More on this next year, as our ongoing love affair will California will hopefully see another chapter.

It's not looking good for Schwarzenegger and those who support curbing union power. If you want to know the background to the importance of this issue, visit the Economic Freedom archives.

Lots more on the Califorina elections here.

Digesting Schwarzenegger’s win I checked to see how some of the liberal European press was reacting and, interestingly, it was not dismissive at all. The Dutch NRC Handelsblad was realistic and even somewhat positive:

At first sight, it appears that a moviestar is probably not very well-suited for the role of politician, yet Schwarzenegger does not necessarily have to fail. He has been part of the Republican establishment for a while and will take over a large part of the former successful Governor Wilson’s staff. A moviestar should be able to convince the public at large that a price will have to be paid. Another Republican moviestar-governor , Ronald Reagan, was able to introduce two highly unpopular tax increases in the early 1970s.

This echoes Sullivan’s comments this morning. While some would argue that convergence of the left and the right on the issue of how to move forward in California may inaugurate the birth of a new era in politics, it would be wiser to qualify it simply as facing reality. Here’s the Guardian pointing out the tough challenges ahead:

Very sensibly, Warren Buffett, Mr. Schwarzenegger's much-hyped investment guru, suggested that the crazy cap on property taxes should be lifted. That idea, however, was promptly consigned to the dustbin … That leaves Mr. Schwarzenegger with few options, so do not be surprised if he ditches his campaign promise not to raise taxes. The fact of the matter is that his margin for manoeuvre is extremely limited.

The new governor has his work cut out for him and he will need all his persuasive powers to get California’s finances back on track. Yet, California is part of the larger US economy and even if Schwarzenegger is able to convince Californians to suffer some increased taxes and recalibrate the state’s finances, medium to long-term recovery is dependent on macro-economic developments in North America and the world. Even the most drastic application of fiscal prudence may not see any returns until well after the next gubernatorial election, which is about three years away.

Welcome to all those who came here via the Gut Rumbles link. No, I am not smoking anything, nor do I have any particular love for the 1970s, I just happen to like California and it looks like the results that are coming in prove my point, anything is possible in that state. Now, the hard work will start for Governor Schwarzenegger, and I really hope he succeeds. By the way, this must be quite a sobering setback for the Democrats; California is now reappearing on the Karl Rove 2004 worksheet.

Today is recall day and apparently it will be a very close call. Many have weighed in with analysis, discussion and projecting possible outcomes and I have from time to time commented on the process. But today I decided to post something more generic about what I think makes California a unique place and why it is here that Schwarzenegger is able run for the office of Governor: My California, Our Optimism.

California conjures up different notions to each of us. This blogger for instance does not like the place at all, but what he dislikes about it comes very close to what I love about it and that is pushing the boundaries, the seemingly never ending triumph of man over nature, turning a desert into one of the largest economies in the world. That success combined with the sun, the beauty and the excesses of a Hollywood-driven glamour culture have made the place the envy of many. And many have turned their envy or jealousy into dislike, especially in Europe where the elevation of a former body-builder and moviestar to a fast moving political icon has reaped disapproval, disgust or other antipathy like feelings. It corroborated many pre-ordained notions about the place. I don’t have to travel very far to hear these, Irene my wife, has foiled many attempts from my side to position ourselves for a move south, and for now she has grudgingly settled for some distant, yet to be realized, part-time retirement arrangement in the Golden State. She just does not share with me the subliminal notions that have turned names like Palm Springs, Newport Beach and Sonoma into crucial missions that at one point deserve my residency.

The place has pushed the boundaries of what is humanly feasible, of what is deemed achievable. That’s why California is probably the only place in the US, or in the world, where Schwarzenegger can run for office. And as I have expressed my doubts about his candidacy (no, I do not mind the groping part, nor do I attach any weight to the Austrian knee-jerks about history) as well as about the nature of the recall, California is probably the only place in the entire world where a human being can achieve the unthinkable by pursuing his or her dreams to the fullest. That’s why I like the Arnold ticket and that is why I would probably, reluctantly given my recall-doubts, have voted for him. His candidacy says something about the place, the people and the way it thrives on optimism and opportunities. And the extremes: from unfettered capitalism and free market excesses to left-wing and enviro-fascist dogmatism at Berkeley, you can find it co-existing in the marvel that is called California.

My first visit to the state was a four-day stopover in San Francisco in the mid 90s, followed by an extended trip to the same place a year later which included a two-week tour of Northern California. That journey opened me up to the sheer variety of the state, from cold and windy mountains, to remnants of the sixties represented by bearded and rugged petrol station attendants who would tell me that if I found their part of the state too boring I could always go down south and join the congregation of nutbars that had encircled the courthouse in OJs civil trial. Yes, I had always arrogantly ignored the media frenzy around the OJ case with some misplaced European intellectual disdain, but the civil case drew me deeply into the Simpson-Brown saga and prompted me to stock up on a significant slice of the book frenzy spawned by the case on our way back. I came to realize that it somehow had all the ingredients of what the outside world deems to be Californian, not one ingredient missed, right up to and including Faye Resnick. A few years later I had the opportunity to travel to Orange County and I found that opposed to all my other experiences in travel that the place was exactly what I had expected it to be. I am not sure if that told me anything but it was a significant experience. And I liked it, so much that it further fueled the idea that one day I should come to California and make it my home. For the next few years I funneled that feeling into a statement: Wolfgang Puck inspired food washed away with Napa and Sonoma wines only when guests visited our house.

Of course, such reverie has its limitations but it is not unwise to try and name it and give it a place. America’s most populous state has, in addition to sun, wine, technology, entertainment and palm trees something else. It has what that other actor turned politician had in abundance, and what most of us have residing somewhere but sometimes requires some inspiration to get out: an unlimited supply of optimism. A willingness to do everything that will unleash our phenomenal potential to reach hitherto unimaginable things. It’s an American thing for sure, but the Californians have somehow taken it to a higher level. By subscribing to that optimism that sense of achievement, we dismiss and relegate the doomsayers, the status quo believers of old that do not want to engage in realizing the dreams that we all have. That is why Ronald Reagan brought out such passionate feelings of hope and enthusiasm, but equally feelings of envy, disgust and abhorrence. The same feelings apply to Schwarzenegger and to the state at large. The excesses may be questionable, love it, hate it, but realize it is one of uniquest things humanity has to offer. The essence of the Californian spirit is unbounded freedom, optimism and a great triumph over adversity with all the good and bad human ingredients that are part of that effort. Whoever wins in today’s recall circus should ensure that that spirit survives any political squabble.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday blocked and thus delayed the California recall as a result of a suit initiated by the ACLU arguing that voting machines in all precincts required to be upgraded. I reported on this in mid-August but felt at the time that this was a somewhat frivolous suit, but my view was that it definitely added some extra spice to an already highly charged recall process. Well, it looks like we’re in for another visit to the US Supreme Court as the man who initiated the recall effort in the first place, Darrel Issa, is more than a little upset and is preparing for an appeal. He also claims that the appeals court is disenfranchising the people of California:

Gray Davis all along, and Bustamante, have tried to prevent the will of the people. Huge amounts, more than 25 percent of the electorate, have signed saying they want an election.

The recall effort in itself, as I have argued before on these pages, is a basically flawed process that undermines the democratic process and the legitimacy of ballot-box political mandates and Mr. Issa’s numbers seem to underline that. It is however disappointing that a lawsuit with somewhat questionable legal grounds now derails an effort that would best have been derailed by the Californian electorate itself by keeping Gray Davis in place, no matter how much he may deserve to be booted out of Sacramento. But then, we may still go to the ballot box on October 7 but the plot thickens as a result of this suit that turned out to be far from frivolous.

As an aside, I wonder to what extent the ACLU has a valid case. Is it not the primary responsibility of the various precincts to ensure that they have state-of-the-art voting equipment, especially following the disastrous recount in Florida, now three years ago? A strong argument can be made that some precincts may delay upgrading voting equipment if they fear that an upcoming vote on a certain date may have an adverse outcome in their opinion. How’s that for rigging the vote and undermining the democratic process?

It seems that some are coming to the conclusion that Schwarzenegger’s campaign is lacking substance, CalPundit today comments as follows:

I don't think he's made a single substantive statement in the past four weeks, and apparently he expects to win simply by insisting that he will march into Sacramento and kick some ass. To him, I guess it's just another notch on his career belt.

Now I do not always agree with the CalPundit, but I think he is absolutely right about the “notch on his career belt”. That was the essence of my post From Thal to Sacramento, three weeks back. The man from Thal has about a month to get his message right, otherwise things may not turn out too well for him at the ballot box.

I am not the only one trying to find out more about the deeper motivations of Schwarzenegger or about some of his psychological traits. Over at CalPundit the discussion has started over whether the man from Thal is a bully, and Robert at Priorities & Frivolities has been on to this topic for a while now, look here for a piece he did prior to Arnold announcing his plans.

The chads are, not unexpectedly, back in the limelight. This time they have hit the news even before the voting has started as the ACLU has filed a petition with a federal judge to see whether the California recall can be delayed until such moment that voting machines have been updated in all precincts. I would argue for state-of-the-art voting equipment in any election, but do not follow how the ACLU can argue that it is minorities that are likely to suffer from hanging chads. Again, the recall is providing us with a spectacle with all the right ingredients, including pre-vote chads.

The news from the recall front continues to be interesting, and it is already an unprecedented political spectacle. The vote splitting that is likely to take place on especially the Republican side make a Schwarzenegger victory far from certain. It appears that the Bustamante campaign is gathering steam, the latter taking advantage of some of the ideological rifts in the Republican camp. Yet, no matter how long I think about it, and no matter how I believe that we should not underestimate the astuteness of the voter (for my loyal readers: a recall would probably be something Fortuyn would have believed in), a recall is disrupting the government of any political entity, especially when it is based on ill-defined grievances. It could set the stage for similar ventures where the books allow such a process, opening the way for unnecessarily terminating mandates won by a regular democratic vote. It could even lead to seriously compromising political agendas obtained by a majority vote for fear of a potential recall and as a result affect the kind of decision making that a clear ballot box mandate requires. While public opinion should influence and steer the political process it should not disrupt and jeopardize it.

Although I do like him a lot, the fact that he is billed as a fiscally conservative and socially progressive Republican helps in this respect, I fear that the recall venue is not the right one for Arnold. Below my take on Schwarzenegger’s motivations in “From Thal to Sacramento”.

As an enthusiastic biography reader, I always try to read up on the backgrounds and life histories of those that move the news. In checking out Arnold Schwarzenegger last week I did not get much further than Time Magazine, a lack of time prevented me from delving into this subject further. In the Time piece we can read that Arnold was, like any other child, driven to leave the parental home as early as possible, but in his case it took a more definitive form when he abandoned his native grounds for America. The article also points out that the break with the past was fairly drastic, as he did not make an effort to attend his father’s funeral, although no one really seems to know why that happened and Arnold himself has given contradicting explanations. There may be a number of reasons for that (and no, it is probably not related to the fact that his father was a Nazi party member) but it is interesting to look for the root causes of Arnold’s drive in life.

The immigrant-leave-it-all-behind argument is a compelling one and given my own experiences in that department, I think that Arnold must have suffered some defeat or some major setback in his native country that for some reason was impossible to address adequately in the place he grew up. The move to the US was a means to show to himself and to those that he left behind that he could do better, and that he would do that in a setting of his own choice. I have not figured out the entire rationale, I am in the middle of it looking at my own life, but then I am a lot younger than Arnold and I think he knows exactly why he is where he is.

What is also telling is that he became successful and a millionaire well before his big Hollywood breakthrough. His drive and shrewdness were no doubt important factors, but also his timing to market (bodybuilding in the 1970s) was near perfect. The latter dispels the notion that he is a movie-star who has made it big and now wants to have a shot at politics. The bodybuilding, the business, the movies and now politics are subsequent installments in a journey that seeks to extinguish whatever happened in Austria back in the 1950s and 1960s. It should be pointed out that any comparison to Ronald Reagan is inherently flawed. Reagan was someone who set out to discover himself through a series of career moves and only later in life did he realize (something that I think he must have sensed all along) that his true passion was in politics, and that came together with a very clear belief and ideology resulting in a succinct political agenda that he was able to bring across passionately. That is not the case for Arnold, his movie career and business activities are far from over and I do not think his mission in life is to become a politician; his platform of beliefs, so far, is limited and hardly passionate.

As a consequence I do believe that his quest to become Governor of California is the crowing piece of that self-asserting mechanism by which he can finally put his past to bed. If elected Governor of California, he can look to Austria and say, “see, I have not only become successful, I have become successful in the place I like, and now they have chosen me as their leader”. For outsiders it may be a mystery how anyone with his fortune, married into the Kennedy family might expose himself to what could prove to be a fairly risky adventure with the potential to end in a humiliating defeat, but I think Scwarzenegger needs that crowning piece on his lifework, no matter what the cost. That proves the point that his efforts in life were not about just success and money, it was about addressing his deepest psychological and emotional needs. If he wins on October 7 he will have achieved a very large part of that, if not all, no matter how his time in office turns out.

Everyone is all over the Arnold story, so I will not try and be smart here and come up with some unique observations. No point in doing that, but I will gladly point you to the best analysis on the web today and that can be found over at Lileks, and as a pro-American European I relished his conclusion:

Only in America. And I say that as a good thing. Which reminds me: like all typical examples of American craziness, this will just horrify the Europeans.

Yes it will, definitely, but that will make the campaign even more fun.

Recalling elected officials who are not performing is becoming more popular these days. Here in British Columbia we have had a few instances where provincial legislators faced a recall and now California Governor Gray Davis is threatened by an initiative to relieve him of his duties. His approval ratings are truly abysmal and the effort to recall the governor is well underway. While there is obviously serious frustration and disappointment over the way things have been handled in California, there are some question marks over recall as an electoral tool. First of all the initial step is to gather a certain number of signatures, a process that by its very nature is open to all sorts of abuse and may consequently not be watertight and fair. The other more important reason is that Davis was elected into office less than a year ago and as such is in the middle of a mandate given to him by the voters, whether a significant number of them today like it or not. If a certain portion of the electorate believes that a politician is not performing or delivering that what he or she promised then there are many other ways to voice discontent and there is always another opportunity at the ballot box to express that discontent. Needless to say that very discontent will have already forced Davis to calibrate his policies and plans. To threaten an incumbent on a continuous basis with recall may have an adverse impact on policy and on political stability.

Recall is therefore not a great tool and should be left unused, and if they are anything to go by, all recent recall efforts in British Columbia ended unsuccessfully. Many would love to see Condi or Arnie in Sacramento, but they will have to wait for just a little bit.