For months on the Common Man Common Sense show, I’ve been talking about the need to elect true conservatives in the primary elections occurring around the country. The primary elections are of critical importance and are largely ignored by the voting public. What have we accomplished is we elect a new group of progressive leaning Republicans to square off against the progressive Democrats? In that situation, you end up with the same result and it’s the path we continually head down. The climate in America has changed and people seem to be waking up but they have to do more than wake up. The American people have to take action. I have been deeply concerned that voters have not completely learned their lesson and with the results of the California primary rolling in, the Republican voters of California have failed the American people miserably.

The first issue is voter turnout for these critical primary elections. In the state of California, some 78% of voters didn’t take the time out of their day to cast a vote. Turnout across the country was poor. What the hell is wrong with people? I understand being disenchanted and discouraged. Believe me; I fight that battle all the time. However, those feelings are no excuse to checkout and allow yourself to put blinders on to what is going on around you. We all have a civic responsibility to ourselves, to our children and to our grandchildren to stand up and be heard. It’s inexcusable not to vote when you can even do it from the comfort of your own home via an absentee ballot. With all the political unrest in this country right now, we should be seeing record turnouts rejecting the progressive policies which are destroying this country. Instead, we see more of the same and more people taking a pass on making a difference. Where the hell was everyone when it counted?

California has been on a crash course for years. Self-destruction has appeared to be the primary goal with massive spending and completely dysfunctional progressive policies running wild with no end in sight. If you are a concerned citizen, California serves as a road map for the bleak future of this country if things don’t change. With victories by Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, and the passage of Proposition 14, the diagnosis on California is in and this patient is suffering from a terminal disease.

Let’s start with Meg Whitman. Whitman has a spotty voting record and donated $8,000 in 2003 to Barbara Boxer’s campaign. On these two issues alone, she’s a weak candidate. She’s also got some very liberal environmental policy ideas which are sure to expand the size of government. I wish she was someone I could endorse and get behind. Her credentials as a CEO with eBay are unquestionable and there is no doubt that her experience in the private sector dealing with real budgets will be helpful. However, do you really think that Brown won’t go into full on attack mode on some of these issues? Whitman is not a conservative. She might be a conservative by California standards but she’s not a true conservative. I will support her and do what is necessary to help her win because Jerry Brown will simply kill this state but I’m not happy about being put in this situation. To be fair, Poizner isn’t a true conservative either. You would have to look to Larry Naritelli to find one. I voted for Poizner and should have casted my vote for Naritelli. I will not make that mistake again. Some would say the result ended up the same and they are right. However, it’s the principal of the thing. We need to stop voting for the candidate that “can win it” and start voting for the candidate that “should win it”. We need to stop politics as usual and we need to do it now. Casting as vote for a bad candidate that “can win it” is just another vote to damn us to repeat the garbage we’re dealing with now. Stop it. Be better than that and don’t waste votes.

The race for the Republican Senate nomination to face off against Barbara Boxer is particularly troubling and could be the most telling about how far gone California is. In the Governor race, we didn’t have a fantastic choice between the major contenders. In the Senate race, we had an absolutely fabulous candidate in Chuck DeVore. DeVore is a conservative with a record that can be proven, not someone taking a position for political gain like Carly Fiorina and Tom Campbell. With 99% of precincts reporting, Fiorina ran away with the nomination gathering 56% of the vote. Fiorina is a flawed candidate that Boxer will rip to shreds. Many have said that she is the candidate who can win an election in November because she can move back to the center. All I see is attacks on her voting record, shipping jobs overseas, and the potential issue with selling printers to Iran. Boxer will have a field day and we could very well miss out on our opportunity to remove her. Again, this is a candidate who will have my full support because another term of Barbara Boxer is more than this country can handle but it kills me that I’m put in this situation. I could easily beat Fiorina in this crazy state with millions of dollars and some TV ads. Funny, Boxer has millions of dollars, can run TV ads, and has no soul that I can find. We’re in trouble.

Fiorina winning is bad enough but even Tom Campbell (22%) beat Chuck DeVore (19%). Why is this particularly troubling? DeVore was the clear true conservative that understood the problem this country faces today with the progressives. All a voter had to do was pay attention to the long list of endorsements, the coverage on FOX, the coverage on the local KSFO talk radio station, and listen to DeVore speak to know this was not even question about who should receive the nomination if the Republican party in California were truly conservative. The fact that liberal Tom Campbell received more votes than DeVore is all the proof needed to state that the Republican Party in California is just as terminally ill as the rest of the state. Campbell should have received negative votes if the voters in this state had a pulse. Who the hell were those of you who voted for Campbell looking at? It certainly wasn’t the Tom Campbell that exists in reality. I expect you all to change your registration to the Democratic Party immediately.

I would also like to address Sarah Palin. Palin’s endorsement of Fiorina was the exact moment when I knew that we were in trouble. It was a game changer. I can only consider this another payback to John McCain for what he’s done to bring Palin into the national spotlight. That’s the only thing that makes sense when you consider how conservative some of the other candidates she has backed are. Palin is one of the faces of the Tea Party movement and she has backed numerous candidates backed by the Tea Pary. Why not in California? Palin is now on strike number two. She campaigned for McCain which is strike one and this is strike two. One more strike and she loses my support. My advice to Palin would be to completely distance herself from that loser John McCain as quickly as possible before she damages her entire career.

Feeling depressed yet? Well, we haven’t even touched on the biggest disaster. Nothing is a damaging as the passage of Prop 14 which ends the primary elections as we know it. This bill passed because the voters of California are “sound bite” voters. The advertisements for this prop make it sound like a wonderful way to stick it to the politicians in Sacramento. The reality is much different. Prop 14 was placed on the ballot as a way to buy the vote of "Republican" Abel Maldonado during the budget crisis. In short, Maldonado went against his pledge to not increase taxes and signed off on the budget to get this disaster proposition on the ballot figuring it would make it easier for him to retain his job. The sick part is he's right. The new primary system eliminates the current party based primary system and places everyone on the same ballot. The two candidates with the most votes move on to the general election. This sounds wonderful and fair until you take a few minutes and think about it (stick with me liberals, I know thinking is hard). The biggest issue with Prop 14 is the system it implements has been proven in other states to increase incumbency rates. In simple English, it makes it easier for the idiots in office to keep their jobs. It’s also disastrous to third parties who lack the funds to be one of the top two vote getters. There really is nothing like completely silencing people. All of you in the Green, Libertarian, and other third parties that voted for this disaster congratulations on destroying your own party. Finally, Prop 14 strongly favors the dominant political party so in areas that have been completely gerrymandered (which is basically all of California for those keeping score at home). In these cases, odds are very good that votes will have the choice of liberal progressive candidate 1 and liberal progressive candidate 2. In certain parts of California, I promise you that you will be unable to ever vote for a Republican or third party candidate in a general election again unless the voters fight to reverse Prop 14. Congratulations voters of California, you have completely thrown us off the cliff!

I’m disenchanted, frustrated and flat out pissed off. I’m sickened that so many in this country can’t use simple common sense to guide their decisions. My home state continues to drive down a dead-end road that ends with bankruptcy and the failure of the state. Unfortunately, the entire country is on the same path with an out of control federal government. Today it’s difficult for me to even consider continuing to fight this battle. I’m tired and part of me wants to wave the white flag and surrender but I won’t do that. I will never do that and you shouldn’t either. We have no choice but to continue fighting the fight to restore this country to the founding words in the Constitution of the United States of America. Not all is bleak. Conservatives scored some victories yesterday, with the biggest being Sharron Angle winning the Republican Party’s nomination to square off against that loser Reid in Nevada. Angle must win and all of us conservatives across the country must support her in that effort. We will continue to chip away and win these battles over time. We will take this country back.

Never give up. Keep spreading the word about conservative values and the Constitution. Keep showing up when called upon and keep the progressives in sight. We didn’t get into this mess overnight and we’re not going to get out of it overnight. Persistence will lead us to victories in November and additional victories down the line. We will be successful in returning this country to its founding principles, we have no other choice!