“The quiet part”

 Carmel Pine Cone, Oct. 24, 2025

If Democrats can get California voters to approve Prop 50, they will no doubt set about installing a resistance-proof Legislature, which will send every taxpayer protection into oblivion. The campaign may sound like a way to fight Trump nationally, but it’s really about overturning Prop 13 property tax limits and increasing income taxes to pay for bloated state boondoggles and union demands. Education reforms, transportation improvements, jobs-oriented business climate changes, and more will all be out the window. It’s said to be temporary, but once the progressives get a near-unanimous stranglehold on state governance, the sunset date can easily be steamrolled. Prop 50 is a path to domineering one-party control and economic decline, being emotionally peddled as a middle finger to Trump. The truth is, passage of Prop 50 will have little effect nationally but devastating effects locally.

Rick Verbanec, Pebble Beach