The Little Brown Reader

His words, though passionate, weren’t memorable, which isn’t really a problem: if you’ve watched any five-minute McClintock interview in the past year, you’ve likely heard everything he has to say. Yes, you were probably startled by his intense, cockeyed stare; encyclopedic knowledge of government intricacies; or social stands to the right of Dwight D. Eisenhower.

But don’t be frightened. Despite initial appearances, McClintock is the best choice to serve as governor of California for the next three years.

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Let me explain.

Start with character. Unlike his top competition—Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cruz Bustamante—McClintock does not lie, duck debates, accept illegal contributions, hide from reporters, flip-flop positions, defend crooks, pander to special interests, place party loyalty over principles, rely on one-liners, award no-bid contracts, surround himself with sleazy advisors or pretend good government is as simple as marketing a movie.

Let’s be blunter: even if McClintock was as ruthlessly ambitious and unprincipled as the other candidates (he isn’t), he would still deserve support in this special election.

Why?

Checks and balances.

I’m hardly a conservative, but the Democrats—rulers of all three branches of state government for the past four years—have proven themselves unwilling to control taxes, spending and bureaucratic growth. After four years of Davis, California’s $10 billion surplus became a $38 billion deficit last fiscal year. For those of you counting, that’s a $48,000,000,000 flip. Note the zeroes: it’s enough money to fund several small- and medium-sized federal agencies for the next 50 years.