Sleeping Voters

When will California’s sleeping electorate wake up? As the world watches dramatic changes and courageous defiance to poor leadership in Eastern Europe and Asia, Californians set new records for low-voter turnout, and in general respond to political lethargy and corruption with little interest. Certainly our mayor, our U.S. senator, the insurance companies, real estate interests, developers and many others are hoping that our slumber will continue. Remember, Mayor Tom Bradley, Sen. Alan Cranston, and you others who continue to sell us out for your personal gain, remember the leaders of Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia--where are they now?

For your information, those of us in the middle are hurting. Those of us on the bottom are suffering. Our leaders, like those of Eastern Europe, are out of touch. They spend their time catering to the interests of “fat cats” and don’t realize our quality of life is slipping.

We need new leadership that will fight for our quality of life. Lech Walesa may have been a simple electrician, but he was able to change a country. Wake up, people, attorneys are not the only ones qualified for leadership.

Prop. 103 was just the beginning. If our sleeping electorate wakes up, we could have a Prague-style demonstration here in Los Angeles or some other California city. And like Prague, we will settle for nothing less than the resignation of our inept leadership.

JOHN P. SALAPA

Canoga Park