Sacramento, CA. -- Democrats continue to celebrate the recent election, with good reason. They enjoy practical monopoly power: Gray Davis in the governor’s office, a 48-32 edge in the Assembly, a 25-15 edge in the state Senate, and big-government Democrats in key posts such as Attorney General.

In addition to carte blanche on legislation, the Democrats will need only six Assembly Republicans and two Senate Republicans to pass emergency measures. And Republicans are not likely to form an effective opposition since their Assembly leader Rod Pacheco takes money from the powerful California Teachers Association, a lobby for perpetual spending. But when they get done wallowing in woe over these prospects, those on the other side can take this time to reassess themselves.

The notion that political power offers the solution to human problems is the Big Lie of this century; and if it were true, the former USSR, Albania, and North Korea would be raging success stories. Those regimes were unable to make it work despite total control over every aspect of life. The political illusion has been the property of the left, but since the 1980s, some on the right have, nonetheless, come to share it, like fans who tie their emotional state to the fortunes of their favorite team.

Governments don’t make people’s lives, people do. This means that questions of family, and qualities such as responsibility, initiative, and entrepreneurship -- irreplaceable by any state action -- take precedence over electoral matters. Those who support free markets and personal responsibility can always make their influence felt, regardless of who happens to be Governor, Assembly Speaker or Superintendent of Public Instruction.

What happens in Sacramento can effect personal responsibility and damage the market. And as Orwell observed, opting out of politics is impossible. But there are sound political reasons for taking the recent developments in stride.

The politically correct politics of victimhood, certain to be a mainstay of the Davis administration despite its professed commitment to moderation, find little favor with the broader populace. Democrats will find fighting Prop 209 to be an uphill battle, and this may hinder them from even more harmful pursuits.

Democrats have made recent gains by shoplifting conservative ideas such as welfare reform. But Democrats are people of the state who believe that the government has a prior claim to what people earn. With a monopoly of power, their return to tax-and-spend feudalism will not be long delayed. Recall their reluctance to return any of last year’s $4 billion surplus to the taxpayers who supplied it.

The Democrats inherited a flourishing economy, which has only one way to go under their leadership -- down. Past experience with Democrat policies, such as taxing businesses for their out-of-state earnings, suggests it will. Special interests will prod the Davis administration into unleashing its regulation squads. Businesses will soon be looking to relocate in low-tax, low-regulation states. All this will leave voters in the mood for change.

Democracy alone cannot make people good, productive citizens, nor impart the qualities for success. But democracy does give us the right and opportunity to throw people out of office. That right ought to be exercised as often as possible, and it probably will be sooner than we expect.

-- K. Lloyd Billingsley