The California state Capitol building is shown October 9, 2003 in downtown Sacramento, California. (Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images)
It’s time to put people over politics. We’re candidates for the state Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives who, along with four other candidates, created the Problem Solvers CA coalition to achieve this goal.
Our political culture of fear and division for power and profit isn’t working. In politics today, each party stakes out its issues and frames the solutions as either/or, all or none. Too often, politicians talk past each other on their pet topics without listening to or acknowledging opposing perspectives. We need to recognize that the solutions aren’t always binary.
For example, we can agree that climate change is real and promote electric-vehicle purchases by increasing tax incentives and charging infrastructure while allowing for a non-regulatory transition to electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen vehicles.
Problem Solvers CA is a coalition of candidates who reject the divisive partisan politics of today. It is open to anyone willing to change the dynamics in politics, conservative or progressive, and reach across the aisle. We hereby pledge to support causes, candidates and organizations that are problem-solvers, not polarizers. We pledge to work with
legislators of any party who want to collaborate on solutions.
We can start by addressing a group of specific challenges that affect all of us: public safety, education, energy, environment, housing, homelessness, transportation and the economy. For example:
We’d seek to give parents more of a voice in their children’s schools while encouraging an inclusive curriculum relevant to all students.
We want to get crime under control and support law enforcement while using our enforcement resources wisely.
We want to put a big dent in homelessness. It’s two problems: the scarcity of affordable housing for everyone and our inability to effectively treat and service the unhoused. Here’s what we propose:
• We will seek to ease the regulatory gridlock that makes it slow and expensive to build housing.
• About half of all U.S. rental housing is provided by small-business landlords. We should motivate them to stay in business.
• We will explore converting unused facilities and vacant land into cost-effective housing, including sites to rehabilitate the mentally ill and drug-addicted homeless.
• California has about 160,000 homeless people, and 120,000 are unsheltered. To reduce the unsheltered homeless population, more shelter capacity and increased investment in cost-effective housing are needed.
• We want to expand mental health and addiction services, especially for our youth. In 2018, California ranked 48th nationally for providing mental health services to children. More treatment facilities and lower barriers to treatment are needed.
• We will support the new, bipartisan-supported California CARE court system with adequate funding. People can be helped in innovative settings such as ranches and farms to help gain skills and self-confidence.
Other states manage these things, usually for lower taxes. We can too. We can do better.
But to get there, we have to end business as usual in Sacramento. Our collaborative approach can help make that happen. Find out more at ProblemSolversCA.com.
Tim Dec is a candidate in the Assembly District 23 race. Bob Brunton is a candidate in the Assembly District 24 race. Ritesh Tandon is a candidate in the congressional 17th District race.
Originally published at Tim Dec, Bob Brunton, Ritesh Tandon