Gavin Newsom is above reproach.

California is facing a huge budget deficit, and it may be worse than the governor admits. There has been much discussion about the state's housing and homelessness crisis, but there is no end in sight.

The time and energy Newsom is spending traveling the country and running red-state ads touting abortion rights and raising his national profile could be better spent at home. . Instead of visiting Florida or Alabama, Newsom should tour rural California and stop at flyovers like Alturas, Sonora, and Red Bluff.

It may not improve Mr. Newsom's 2028 presidential prospects or win him many converts. But it would acknowledge that residents feel isolated from the rest of the state and show that their concerns are just as important as those of Democrats in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

But none of that justifies the latest effort to remove Newsom from office.

A group of Republican lawmakers involved in the failed 2021 recall effort announced this week that they would try again. 7th Attempt to sabotage Newsom's governorship.

That would be a waste of time and potentially even more tax money. This should finally force Sacramento lawmakers to make much-needed fixes to the state's broken recall process.

It can also be a symptom of a larger illness.

For more than a generation, we have lived in an era of perpetual campaigns. The line between running a government and looking ahead to the next election has become blurred, but those who want expediency and partisanship to have less influence over members of Congress and their decisions It's very unfortunate for.

But in recent years, the negative effects of perpetual campaigning have been outweighed by something even more harmful: endless elections.

Rather than admit defeat, Donald Trump and his followers are insisting on re-litigating the 2020 presidential election. In Arizona, gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and other Republicans did the same by refusing to recognize the results after losing a statewide election.

(Suggestions to those who claim these elections were stolen: Join Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and discuss how to prevent similar “cheating” in 2024. You're welcome.)

In the past, elections had winners and losers, and both sides acknowledged the same thing. Now, those who don't like the results are simply refusing to accept them, ignoring the will of the voters.

In Oregon, this meant lawmakers boycotting Congress and denying the Democratic majority a quorum. In Wisconsin, disgruntled Republicans threatened to overturn the state Supreme Court election and impeach a liberal judge simply because their preferred candidate lost. (Congressmen were ultimately shamed for such a grossly undemocratic move.)

The idea that an election is meaningless if it doesn't get the result you want is evident in the new effort to remove Newsom from office.

Like it or not, he has been elected governor twice. He firmly blocked the 2021 recall attempt. The 61.9% “no” vote was exactly in line with Newsom's winning percentage in 2018. That means nearly $250 million was spent on the special election so voters could effectively say they meant it when they elected this person.

They chose Newsom again in 2022, when he will seek re-election.

The Republican Party is in dire straits in California. It's nothing new. It's been nearly 20 years since voters elected the original Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So the current strategy seems to be if you can't beat them, harass them.

And make some money in the process.

of The San Francisco Standard reported Rescue California, the election committee supporting the 2021 recall election, says it is more than $1 million in debt. Fundraising for the latest effort could easily wipe out that debt, yielding huge profits for organizers who made a good profit in the previous round.

In the weeks and months after that costly and pointless election, Sacramento lawmakers considered how to overhaul the recall process, which had grown much decrepit since its conception more than 100 years ago.

It was too easy to certify this bill, requiring signatures representing only 12% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election, giving the ousted governor far less than a majority of support. is set up so that he can take over as his successor. (A recall election consists of two parts. Voters are asked whether someone should be removed from office, and if so, the removed official is will be replaced by the person with the top votes.)

But the momentum for long-awaited change disappeared with the memory of the 2021 recall. Now is a good time for lawmakers to revisit the issue.

As well as the corrosive effects of holding endless elections, there are also potential costs to consider. Once the votes are counted, move on.

For California voters, this is also the case. If you're feeling discouraged by the prospect of a Trump-Biden rematch, another campaign focused on Newsom's stupefying visit to the French Laundry, his Hollywood looks, and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Why not consider it? Teams aiming to succeed the Republican Party compete to outdo each other on MAGA.

That's reason enough to oppose another recall election.