This election is about two vastly different world views.

Should the government get out of the way and let you be as successful as your efforts earn you to be? Or should government interfere with your efforts to take more and more of your own money and use it for those who won’t or don’t work as hard as you?

Should government preserve life or facilitate in the death of future generations?

Should U.S. tax dollars be used to help build up American cities which are in decline and distress or send billions to war-torn Ukraine instead?

Should we end the staggering flow of impoverished migrants who offer nothing in the way of skills or trades or continue burdening taxpayers with the costs of medical care, education and other social services?

Should we keep forcing businesses to pay higher and higher wages to folks who have little skills and force the more skilled to pay more for products until they can’t afford it anymore and jobs are lost? Or do we let the free market decide what wages are paid and stop the loss of jobs and higher inflation for the general population?

To me it’s an easy choice.

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I receive political fundraiser emails which give me insight as to how the Democrats think as they attempt to raise money while attacking a person who holds traditionally held values – that is normal common sense that was popular before it was replaced by complete abandonment from truth in the last decade or so.

Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee Spokesperson Dan Gottlieb had this to say in an email I received last week: “Because of House Republicans like John Duarte, reproductive freedom is under threat.”

Women, of course, have the complete freedom to reproduce or not; it’s just that conservatives believe in birth control other than giving women the freedom to kill what they reproduce.

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More lunacy on the left. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, just vetoed a bill that would have given homeowners more power to remove squatters illegally living in their own domicile. Arizona Senate Bill 1129 was a bipartisan bill that would have allowed police, acting on an owner’s affidavit, to immediately go in and have someone evicted.

Hobbs wrote: “This bill fails to leverage existing legal mechanisms, respect the due process rights of lawful tenants, and minimize unintended consequences such as for victims of domestic violence.”

Well, never mind the rights of the person who OWNS the property!

The author of the bill, state Senator Wendy Rogers, questioned if Hobbs even read her bill, saying it “has absolutely nothing to do with landlord-tenant law and has exemptions for family members and anyone with an agreement to cohabitate.”

Two red states, Florida and Georgia have already passed laws strengthening homeowners’ rights against squatters.

The progressive Arizona governor also vetoed a bill that would define who can shower with whom in public schools. She also nixed a bill that would have increased sentences for those convicted of multiple incidents of organized retail theft.

Way to go, Gov. Hobbs! Siding with the criminals.

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Americans love their freedom! 

Well, let’s say that most do.

According to the Pew Research survey, 73% say the freedom of the press – enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – is extremely or very important to the well-being of society. An additional 18% say it is somewhat important, and 8% say it is a little or not at all important.

Those last two stats are scary as those who don’t find a free press important or somewhat important.

Drilling this down further, it looks as though it’s the progressives, women, the lesser educated and blacks who are more inclined to do away with a free press. Groups of Americans who are more likely to say press freedom should always be protected include:

• Men: 53% of men say this, compared with 40% of women.

• White Americans: Half of white adults say press freedom should always be protected; 35% of black adults say the same.

• College graduates: U.S. adults with at least a bachelor’s degree (53%) are more likely than those with a high school diploma or less (38%) to say press freedom should always be protected, even if it means false information can be published.

• Republicans: 57% of Republicans say this, compared with 38% of Democrats.

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I think most of us watching these idiotic college kids in protest of Israel defending its existence are virtually being reassured they have “skulls full of mush,” to quote the late Rush Limbaugh.

Actor John Lovitz blasted the protestors on campuses last week: “You’re supposed to be smart. You’re blaming your 18-year-old classmates from the U.S. for the actions of the government of Israel? What the hell are you being taught? Think logically and quit being sheep & being used by your professors.”

And while we’re talking about protests, how about legislation that would make blocking a road for political protest to be a felony punishable by a prison term? It’s not right to hold the public and working people hostage by occupying the infrastructure their hard work built so they can make a political statement.

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The governor’s office didn’t announce to us that he was going to be in the area on Monday, April 22 but one of our reporters at our sister newspaper got a heads-up and covered the dedication of Dos Rios State Park.

When I read reports of what Newsom said I raised my eyebrows: “This isn’t fly-by country with me, I drive through and when I say I drive through, it’s almost my weekly commute as I go up and down the state of California. I’ve been here well over 100 times as governor.”

Hold it right there.

That has to be the most disingenuous thing I’ve heard come out of this guy’s mouth. If he’s suggesting he’s been in Stanislaus County 100 times as governor I am calling him a liar. He’s not visited our county more than four times since he ran.

We are on his “almost … weekly commute” as he drives through? Newsom does not drive himself anywhere, let alone weekly down through our county. He’s always escorted in the back of an SUV driven by CHP or other officials. And he must think we’ve stupid to think he spends six hours riding down 99 or I-5 from Sacramento to LA.

Newsom went on to say that others have said: “Ah, you’re some kid from San Francisco; you don’t care about the Central Valley,” to which he replies, “It’s not about an electoral map for me. It’s about morality. It’s about ethic. It’s about one California. We talk about one California for all, and we mean that sincerely.”

I might have to see my eye doctor for strain after that eyeball roll.

With Newsom, it’s solely about posturing and electoral maps. He continually tells his audience of the day what they want to hear and he often exaggerates or lies. I will never forgot how he told the Modesto Bee editorial staff in 2017 that he supported the death penalty, only to do a backflip the year he became governor. His bait and switch tactics is the hallmark of a sleazy politician. Now nobody in California dies for heinous crimes like murder. 

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As Arizona seeks to keep its ban on abortion in that state, Newsom couldn’t wait to hold a press conference to announce: “Hey, Arizona doctors and moms, why not come over here and kill those babies?!”

Newsom will likely get his bill passed since we have a Democrat controlled Legislature. His bill would allow Arizona licensed doctors to run across the border to chop and dice up healthy fetuses and throw them in the garbage. Those Arizona doctors would ONLY be able to kill babies in California, nothing else really health related. When a CBS reporter noted with the doctor shortage in rural California, why not “use a tool like this for other kinds of healthcare shortages” Newsom could only give a vague answer: “Well, we’ve done it for military spouses. We have a lot of other tools we have across the spectrum.”

The real kicker is that during his presser last week Newsom said: “This is not an academic exercise, this is real life.” Yeah, Gavin, this is about real life which you so accommodatingly want to snuff out.

He’ll face the Judgment Day one day.

The bright spot in all this is that a lot of hospitals and medical centers won’t accommodate these procedures for fear of lawsuits.

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I’ve been very critical of our state Attorney General for the way he manipulates the voter initiative process by either coming up with sugarcoating verbiage for propositions he likes and labeling the ones he doesn’t like with dishonest titles.

Titles are important to the low information voters who won’t dig deep and really learn what a proposition is about. 

That’s the reason we ended up getting screwed royally with Prop. 47 which was labeled for the 2014 election as the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” It was the exact opposite. The proposition, which was heartily endorsed by Gavin Newsom and Xavier Becerra, made California susceptible to rampant retail theft to the point that this November we will be voting to undo parts of it!

Well, the AG is up to his old bag of tricks. Signatures are being collected – with a May 28 deadline – to place on the ballot a proposition that proponents wanted to call “Protect Kids California.” The measure would:

• Require students to use bathrooms that align with the gender they were assigned at birth;

• Prohibit transgender girls in seventh grade or older from participating in girls’ sports or other girls-only activities 

• Ban gender-affirming health care — including surgery or hormone treatment — for transgender students under age 18, even if parents consent or the treatment is recommended by a doctor

• Require schools to notify parents if students change their pronouns or otherwise signal they identify as a gender other than what’s on their official student records

Bonta intervened, as the progressive radical leftist that he is – and probably doing the bidding of Gavin Newsom – and sued to have it named “Restricting Rights of Transgender Youth.”

Why is so much energy being spent by the likes of Rob Bonta to cater to a micro-segment of our society – once widely considered as deviants – while being terribly dismissive of the vast majority?

Well, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto ruled in Bonta’s favor. Thus, the initiative will either die for lack of signatures with this deceptive title wording or lose in the polls because California is overrun with ignorant voters or abject leftists who think girls can be boys and boys can be girls – and have the schools preventing parents from knowing about their child’s psychological issues.

It’s pretty simple and most people get it: Like ethnicity and age, gender is not fluid and truth is truth.

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Herman Bhatti should read Bret Silveira’s interview in today’s edition. It’s on A7. Specifically he needs to read the part where I ask the vice mayor this:  “Residents have complained Ceres gets a lot fast-food, gas stations and car washes. How can Ceres attract something residents have wanted to see here, such as the national sit-down restaurants, retailers besides Walmart and recreational uses like bowling alleys or theaters or indoor sporting venues? Is there hope for Ceres?”

Silveira answers rather truthfully that the city doesn’t build businesses, only tries to recruit them to locate in Ceres. Silveira also notes that companies look at the demographics of the community.

For being a former Chamber president, Herman Bhatti has been rather negative and dismissive of the types of businesses Ceres has been able to attract. He posted this facetious comment on the Courier Facebook post about the last developments in the Ceres Gateway Center.: “Freaking awesome … so original! Let’s enhance it further by incorporating an additional car wash, Starbucks, Dutch Bros, a gas station, storage units, McDonald’s and Popeye’s. It’s evident that Ceres is brimming with originality and innovation and these additions will undoubtedly contribute to making it an even better place and grow Ceres! LOL”

If the zoning allows a certain use and someone is willing to put up the cash to invest in a new business in a shopping center, Bhatti knows the city can’t pick and choose to suit his standards.

There’s a reason why a Lazy Dog Restaurant or a BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse isn’t breaking down the door at Ceres City Hall with applications to build here. It’s all about the demographics and Ceres isn’t exactly populated by people pulling Danville salaries.

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Folks in Chino are upset about Newsom’s plan to transfer 26 Death Row inmates from San Quentin State Prison to the California Institution for Men in Chino. County officials say the prison is aging and not well suited to contain hardened criminals. In fact, the prison was proposed to be demolished in 2014.

The Chino prison saw an escape in 2018. Another one occurred in 1983 when Kevin Cooper escaped and went on to murder four people. Homes, parks and schools are located just a few hundred yards from the prison.

Chino Vice Mayor Karen Comstock is livid, saying that the 1941 facility’s decaying infrastructures is not up to securely holding death row inmates.

It’s all part of Newsom’s $20 million design work to transform San Quentin from a maximum-security prison into a rehabilitation and education facility that will focus on preparing inmates for their transition back into civilian life. He claims this will build a “brighter and safer future.”

Newsom’s bleeding heart, soft-on-crime approach, whether letting felons out of prison early because of COVID or because he doesn’t want to build more prisons to house those who would otherwise victimize us, or allowing killers to live, has been an abject failure.

This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation.  How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com