As everyone in Santa Clarita knows, this November we must choose between Rep. Steve Knight and Democratic challenger Katie Hill on election day, in their fight to serve as our House representative. Many have written about this race and analyzed each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, but I believe I have a valuable perspective to offer as well. So without further adieu, here are my top four reasons to not vote for Ms. Hill:
1. She’s Too Qualified.
Before running for Congress, Hill served as the executive director of PATH, the largest homelessness nonprofit in California. While there, she helped grow the organization’s budget to $40 million and author and pass prop HHH, a $1.2 billion affordable housing bond for Los Angeles. Overseeing a huge staff, engineering transformative public policy, working with government officials, donors and the greater community to serve the marginalized? This is all dynamic experience that shows Katie Hill is ready for public service, which is exactly why we must not elect her.
Making America Great Again requires sending to Washington those with absolutely no idea how to do their jobs. We cannot have our government run by educated elites who qualify for the positions they seek to obtain; that’s the kind of thing you see among the godless, gluten-free perverts in Europe. But not here.
In this era’s populist moment, we need leaders who have the common wisdom of the people, even if the people don’t read, spend most of their time watching shows like “Bachelor in Paradise,” and generally don’t have the slightest idea of what’s going on but are somehow always angry as hell.
2. She Once Laughed While Wearing a Tank Top
This next one is truly important, and brought to us courtesy of a GOP attack ad in support of Congressman Steve Knight. In this TV spot, Hill is shown wearing a tank top while chortling at some humorous remark. At the same moment, the words appear on the screen, “Liberal Katie Hill, too immature.” And that’s exactly right, folks. What kind of aspiring politician not only wears a tank top, but also has the hubris to laugh while doing so? We cannot elect someone who will giggle while not wearing sleeves.
The Republicans, in their desperate search to find some way to attack a young leader with a proven record of accomplishment and intellect, finally found their smoking gun — an ad that plays on sexist stereotypes about a woman’s seriousness.
This is a dignified strategy from conservatives, one that does not use prejudice in order to serve the GOP’s self interest. Abraham Lincoln would be proud, and Santa Clarita voters should be proud to vote against Katie.
3. Her Policy Ideas Are Too Helpful
This is from Hill’s website:
“Last year, the wealthiest 10 percent of families in the U.S. held 76 percent of the total wealth in our country, while the bottom half of the population accounted for just 1 percent. We need to close that gap, and ensure that the wealthy pay at least the same percentage of their income in taxes as the rest of us do. We are never going to see a thriving middle class in this country until we solve this problem.”
Hill foolishly argues income inequality is a defining issue of our time, one that scores of world leaders, NGOs, and academics say threatens society. So she proposes taking steps to equalize the tax burden among the rich and the poor, and then use the money raised to make essential investments in working families.
Congressman Steve Knight and his fellow Republicans, on the other hand, recognize the situation for what it really is. The rich are job creators and thus it is immoral to ask them to pay more in taxes. By hoarding wealth, suppressing wages and taking steps to maximize profit rather than the good of the country, the wealthy generate so many opportunities for the rest of us.
The collapse of the middle class that results helps create a mental health crisis in our communities, which means more patients for therapists.
The inability of families to pay the bills destroys marriages and that raises the take-home pay for divorce lawyers.
The existential despair we feel working longer hours for low wages means millions take to booze as a way of getting relief. Which is great for our farmers who make hops and the brewers as well. Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
Does Katie Hill see these irrefutable truths? Not a chance.
4. She Will Help Fix Washington
One of Katie Hill’s main goals is to make Washington work again, to bring back a spirit of common sense and collaboration as a means of solving our national ills.
However: Do we really want our government to function? There is something enjoyable about being able to come home after a long day, heat up a bowl of chili, and see which one of our democratic institutions is being destroyed by Trump’s government. It’s like binge watching a great Netflix show: the “Fall of the Empire,” 2018 edition.
Should Santa Clarita give that up by voting for Hill, someone who, in the tradition of our greatest leaders, cherishes good ideas over mindless political bickering? If elected she will seek an immigration reform that secures the border before offering citizenship to the undocumented, a health care policy that gradually reforms the system before insuring everyone, and commonsense solutions that can unite gun owners and progressives around the goal of preventing mass shootings.
Imagine a future where Congress is filled with folks like that, who were committed to being productive. The news, rather than being a riveting dystopian drama, would become as boring as C-SPAN. And there’d be nothing to protest about; instead of burning calories marching against political corruption, we’d have to sign up for a gym.
In order to do that you must fill out the forms and talk to the guys at the front desk, then you have to remember to cancel the membership if you don’t go, and then there’s the guilt for not going after paying the money…
Is this a world we really want?
Joshua Heath is a Valencia resident and a political science student at UCLA. He has served two terms as a delegate to the California Democratic Party. Democratic Voices runs every Tuesday in The Signal and rotates among several local Democrats.
