Taking a Closer Look at Sobering Messages From Voting Majority

Wow! Now the Grand Old Party can give us what we want! Right!

1. Term limits.

2. Line-item veto.

3. Balanced budget.

4. No more illegal immigrants.

Not much to expect, or is it? Well, we could see more changes in 1996. Let’s see which congressmen will be the first to put any one of these bills on the House floor. Is it going to be Dornan, Royce, Cox, Rohrabacher, Kim or Packard? Let’s see how strong these congressmen from Orange County really are.

Or is this the shoo-in for President Clinton in 1996?

JERRY BAKKE

Anaheim

* For a long time, we Republicans have been saying, give us a chance. Throw the “bad” guys out (which didn’t necessarily mean Democrats).

Well, we have thrown out the “bad” guys. We now have our chance. The Republicans had better come through--or the Chicago Cubs will get to the World Series before the Republicans get another chance.

BOB TODD

Newport Beach

* Several conclusions can be drawn from the elections for Orange County school boards. First, it will be a long, hard road for conservatives to defeat the teachers unions’ political and financial firepower; although countywide the unions had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, in the middle of a conservative Republican landslide voters elected liberal Democrats to school boards. Very impressive. Of course, the unions get away with buying school boards because the media has no desire to report on the huge sums spent by school district teachers unions to elect school boards who agree with the unions’ views on teacher compensation, contract conditions and curriculum. One reporter I talked with dismissed this topic as “old news” that “everyone knows.”

Second, the education Establishment’s McCarthyite smear campaign may have worked, pending post-election analysis. This tactic will be used until candidates who feel they are subjected to unwarranted personal attacks based on their religious beliefs file civil rights lawsuits. Here, again, the media aided and abetted.

Finally, if we want to take control of the schools away from the teachers unions, maybe we’ll have to do an end-run around them. Perhaps a state ballot initiative banning contributions or independent expenditures by public employee unions in elections for public employer trustee positions (school boards, city councils).

LEON E. MCKINNEY

Huntington Beach

* Orange County comes through again. Business as usual. Electing Dana Rohrabacher (to Congress) over Brett Williamson. Do people have their heads in the sand? Do they follow Rohrabacher’s activities/accomplishments or lack thereof? What a shame for us. What a waste.

I’ve lived in Orange County for 30 years. I love the area, have many really good people as friends here--but the politics suck! I just cringe when I read about locals gushing over the likes of Mike Huffington.

Oh well, I can take solace in knowing that the next two years will be blissful. The Republicans will fix all our county’s and nation’s ills. I can rest assured in that.

ANNETTE COOPER

Newport Beach

* Los Angeles’ Cardinal Roger Mahony was the most audible voice of opposition on Proposition 187. Since the Catholic Church is taking such a voice of opposition, it should also assume a much greater position of responsibility in caring for these illegal immigrants that are abusing our hard-earned tax dollars for social services that a legal California resident has provided.

The very real problem of illegal immigration manifests itself in people fleeing countries of oppression. The Catholic Church would better serve the legal immigrants in California by effecting positive change in countries where exploding populations are accompanied by illiteracy.

When these people illegally enter California and the Catholic Church continues to encourage this process, hold the Catholic Church solely responsible for providing medical services and educational instruction in privately funded Catholic hospitals and schools.

Legal California residents have spoken. Proposition 187 has passed. Los Angeles Cardinal Mahony and the Catholic Church should either assume greater responsibility for this concern or agree with the legal voting majority.

DONALD C. COLLIE

Irvine

* I vote in each election. However, I sympathize with the informed “non-voter” as an expression of protest.

Our form of government is an oligarchy masquerading as a democracy. Essentially, a voter has the choice between two “Establishment-sponsored candidates.”

We have a one-party system. Democrat and Republican parties are distinguished only in form, not in substance. All major communications are owned by an increasingly small number of entities.

What is needed is true democracy instigated by 100% equal financing (equal time) of all political candidates, including minority parties. Until then, no meaningful reforms will occur toward fair taxation, medical care, crime, education, housing, and those multitude of problems in need of attention.

MELVIN D. THOMAS

Laguna Niguel

* The passage of Proposition 187 has sent a message--that the majority of voters in California are mean-spirited and shortsighted. It would be interesting if these “illegals” could withhold their labors and their spending power from this society for about a month. Including rents.

JAMES J. MURPHY

Laguna Niguel