Eber: Diane Feinstein for U.S. Senate

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By Richard Eber, California Political News and Views  

At this juncture of the race for the U.S. Senate in 2016 Incumbent Diane Feinstein has my endorsement. Even though the horses have barely left the stable, this is an easy decision to make as voters in the Golden State are faced with a choice between the five term democrat from San Francisco and progressive Senate Pro Tem leader Kevin De Leon.

The senator from Los Angeles has been a leader in the Sanctuary City Movement, the State taking over urban planning decisions from local communities, and trying to enact a single payer health system without a plan to pay for it.  In my mind this makes him is a scary political leader.   He is articulate, smart, charismatic, and driven to obtain power.  In the same breath Kevin de Leon must be stopped before he can damage our fragile democracy even more.

If De Leon held office in a third world country dictatorship, he would have been arrested for treason long ago.  Trying to undermine the power of the central government to deal with immigration matters and conduct foreign policy is a sure path to house detention.  Fortunately, this gentleman resides in a democracy where the constitution allows him unlimited free speech.  However, De Leon is still way out of line with the thinking most Americans hold on how our democratic system of government should operate.

We are faced with voting in the U.S. Senate race between an elderly lady. Who if elected would be deep in her 90’s versus a clueless left wing ideologue.  As such, my decision supporting Diane Feinstein is not a difficult task.

One might ask about a Republican, for whom my political beliefs are more aligned, being a viable candidate to support for this  post? This is a good question for which the answer is likely what candidate.   With the present system having the two top vote getters (regardless of Party) facing each other in November,  the GOP  has little hope of making an impact in determining who will hold this vital Senate seat.

Many conservative voters feel frustrated on what occurred last year when progressive Democrats Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez faced each other in the run-off. They felt the system failed them given the fish wrappings that had been left to vote on. Conservative political thought was silent with the GOP being absent when the final decision was made that propelled Harris to an easy win.

The question is will Republican and decline to state voters, who make up approximately 50% of the electorate, be represented in the Senate race next year.  Will they lie down again like lap dogs and support underfunded Republicans who have no chance of ever venturing to Washington D.C. as office holders?

The legitimate question comes up what should these previously disenfranchised voters do to have even the slightest impact in the 2018 Senate race.  The options are basically:

1. Vote GOP regardless of candidate.
2. Select the lesser of two evils Democrat.
3. Cast a ballot for the Libertarian or Prohibitionist candidate to protest lack of GOP
4. Stay home for this election as a protest against the whole deal.

While option #4 seems like the logical thing to do, not casting a ballot goes against the DNA of most conservatives who feel it is their civic duty to participate in the election process.

Were this same scenario as 2016 exist next year, many Republicans and Independents such as me will not waste our time and support losers.  In our minds, luke warm support of Feinstein is a more palatable flavor of Hopson’s choice.

At this point it does no good to analyze why the Republican Party in California has been so inept at educating the public about the ramifications of critical issues such as:

• Sanctuary City laws and its effect on California receiving a fair share of revenue from the Federal government.
• Continuing to ignore ever increasing deficits of public employee pension funds  which are now well over 1 trillion dollars and increasing each day,
• Ill advised spending of tax pay payer dollars on the Bullet Train and other questionable public transit projects while leaving it up to underfunded local governments to deal with basic infrastructure needs.
• The impact of cap and trade along with other so called “green policies” that have destroyed the State’s manufacturing base and sent large and small businesses fleeing to other states.
• Uncontrolled state spending on entitlements which have resulted not only in State budget deficits but also the highest business and income taxes in the country.
• A decayed public education system which is performing in the bottom 10% among the 50 states.

We can add more categories to this “but wait there’s more” list of policy failures in Sacramento.  However doing so will do no good. We have to ask how a state that processes the best minds in High tech can only  haul out a couple of left wing advisories for voters to choose from?

Of course none of this scenario is written in stone.  There is always the possibility that a well funded Republican will emerge.  Given the limited ability of the State party to assist in trying to elect anyone to a State office let alone the U.S. Senate, this possibility seems remote.  The days of Hollywood supporting a George Murphy, Ronald Reagan, or even a Arnold Schwarzenegger type seem to be  in what Hollywood terms a ”leap of faith” category.

At this point the best Republicans can hope for is that a third strong liberal candidate such as Tom Steyer enters the fray to do battle with Feinstein and De Leon.  Were this the case, perhaps it would be possible to sneak a Republican in next June to make it to the fall run-off. However, even were this to occur, it is unlikely such a person could do any more than improving the quality of their resume from running

Meanwhile, we are likely looking forward to a Feinstein-De Leon match-up through the primary and final election.  One reason I favor Feinstein so much is that even though I disagree with her on most issues, she has always looking after California’s best interests.

Going back to the days she served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors becoming mayor when George Moscone and Harvey Milk were assassinated, Feinstein worked hard.  Unlike her colleague Barbara Boxer and now Kamala Harris, Feinstein has always conducted herself with the decorum of a Senator. She has even been able on occasion to cross party lines the good of the country.

With this said, do I want Diane to represent my state for another six years?  Nope, but consider the alternatives.

Richard Eber studied journalism at the University of Oregon. He writes about politics, culture, education restaurants, and was former city and sports editor of UCSB Daily. Richard is president of Amerasa Rapid Transit, a specialized freight forwarder.

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