Op-Ed: You Know This Conservative Talk Show Host, And He Could Soon Be Much More Famous
Recent poll results from California indicate talk show host Larry Elder is dominating the field to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom as governor.
The nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California has found that Elder leads the field with 26 percent of likely voters supporting him, and the closest Republican contender coming in at 5 percent.
Elder is a radio show host and Fox News regular who is a conservative with a libertarian streak.
Why is Elder running? To quote him from his website:
“I’m running for Governor because the decline of California isn’t the fault of its people. Our government is what’s ruining the Golden State. Our schools are closed to both students and their parents. Our streets aren’t safe from rising violent crime or the disaster of rising homelessness.
“And the scandals of Sacramento aren’t going to stop on their own. It’s time to tell the truth. We’ve got a state to save.”
Elder is an excellent choice for Republicans and independents looking to shake up California politics.
For one, he supports a less authoritarian position on COVID than Newsom does. Contrasting his position on COVID with Newsom’s, he writes, “I will govern as your governor, not as your tyrant.”
Elder also supports a return of fiscal sanity to the state of California. Elsewhere on his website, he writes:
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“Temporary relief during the worst pandemic in a century was certainly reasonable and desirable, but Gavin Newsom’s spending spree is not. As former Governor Jerry Brown said in a recent interview, ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees… It’s not sustainable.’
“Unlike his successor, Brown knows that throwing big chunks of cash at people is bad policy and predicted ‘fiscal stress’ for the state within two years.”
Elder thus brings a rational and level-headed view to both the COVID crisis and California spending.
He also weighs in on the traditional conservative concern for lower taxes. Lower taxes could rejuvenate the California economy, an economy that once was a strong one.
“California has been devastated for years by a radical tax policy and (more recently) forced business closures,” he writes.
“We have the highest marginal income-tax rate and one of the highest corporate-tax rates in the country. These are government barriers to the growth of the middle class.”
Elder focuses on economic growth and defeating COVID with rational policies. The polling reveals that, if Newsom is recalled, Larry Elder could become governor.
It would be a boon to California and the nation as a whole if Elder were elected.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
