Commentary: It’s time to challenge O.C.’s Republican ‘industrial complex’

During this election season, much has been made of “fixing” California. California is beautiful, and Orange County hails as one of its jewels.

The issue lies within the directives and role of the few who run our governing bodies. There is a political industrial complex within the Republican Party in Orange County that likes to pick our candidates for us. This same political class bemoans government and its ailments, not realizing that they themselves are the ones who perpetuate and feed the disease.

I am on the ballot as well as two “good government” Republican men. Assemblyman Donald Wagner (R-Irvine) thinks that big labor, big business and big government can all cooperate without the rest of us. Former Supervisor John Moorlach comes from a moral high ground, where only the fees he passes and the spending he chooses will cure all that ails humanity.

I am the kind of Republican who doesn’t think government permanently fixes things. Rather, solutions lie in the private sector, and often at a much cheaper cost. There is a role for government, like the founding of my Republican Party, which was formed to stop the expansion of slavery and to govern humans as individuals and not property.

I believe in the inconvenience of equality. When true and unbridled equality is applied, and it directly benefits our self interest, we are ennobled by our decision-making.

“Good government” types usually claim that they must equalize the playing field like a referee. My opponents believe in equality before the law. They just view themselves and their friends as more equal than the rest of us. We are at a point in California where our two-party system has become derelict because of the elitism of the political class.

We are also told that there is a ritual of partisanship in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., and that nothing gets done. When it comes to spending our money, elected Republicans and Democrats, and independents for that matter, get along with vigor.

We may feel forlorn when we see large businesses, unions and now political parties all working against us. I would contend that our future is not dictated by the past transgressions of public office holders and their friends.

Voting is our means to voice our political opinions equally: one person, one vote.

Unraveling the unbalance is a three-legged stool. We start by electing people who understand that the power we entrust to them is the exact thing that they must deprive themselves and their friends.

Second, we as individuals need to create a politically advantageous atmosphere for an imperfect person elected to office to vote correctly, meaning to cast our vote every time.

Lastly, we should push for our legislators to vote from their respective districts. In the past, we would elect good people grounded in the knowledge of the local area and then lose them to Sacramento. Why should we send our legislators to be among the wallets of centralized lobbyists in Sacramento?

In the near term, voting from the district will make it more expensive for the current politically connected to affirm their power. The special interests within the district, as well as you and I, will have a greater influence and more of our representatives’ attention after some time.

I am asking for your vote Tuesday and will pledge to be honest about all aspects of the process. It may seem like a low bar to some voters, but I’d like you to think of the last time you felt you were being represented by a politician who was enthusiastically honest?

Irvine Republican NAZ NAMAZI, who works as a congressional aide to Rep. DANA ROHRABACHER (R-Costa Mesa), is running for the 37th state Senate District in Tuesday’s special election.