All Californians have been incredibly fortunate to have an outstanding representative in Congress fighting for them in Rep. George Radanovich. Throughout his 15 years in the House, George has been a thoughtful, passionate, and committed advocate on the issues facing California's Central Valley including water, agriculture, and jobs.

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One of the fundamental principles of political involvement is that it should be voluntary. Unlike some countries, voting and registering to vote in America is voluntary, not mandatory. Financially supporting candidates should also be voluntary, but for too many Californians, it's not.

We continue to witness Californians who happen to belong to labor unions being required to fund political activity as a condition of their union membership. While dues are charged to members ostensibly to pay for the costs of the union serving as a collective bargaining representative, substantial sums are instead diverted to political activity in one form or another. Sometimes the diversion takes place directly, while in other instances sums are sent to national affiliates only to come back in the form of some political activity.

The question here is not whether unions should be able to participate in the political process - of course they should. The issue is whether union members who do not support the union officials' political agenda should be required to fund that agenda, regardless of their own political views. The answer there is, of course they should not. Political involvement, again, should be voluntary.

California voters have twice narrowly rejected "paycheck protection" proposals aimed at protecting union members from being forced to fund political speech they do not support. Yet, the defeat of those past initiatives can be attributed to the incredible disinformation campaign waged against them, which included twisted claims that workers already have the rights the initiative would embody.

Proponents are now circulating a new paycheck protection initiative with the help of many in the tea party movement. I signed the petition last week to help place the measure on the ballot. If you're interested in helping make sure that no one in California is forced to fund political speech they disagree with, you can download a petition here.

Barack Obama's public approval rating has dropped to as low as 47% in the last week, according to Gallup. Although the President will not appear on the ballot again until 2012, how the public views his presidency will have a direct impact on each party's performance in next year's mid-term elections.

The party holding the White House has lost seats in 10 of the last 12 mid-terms, going back to President Kennedy's 1962 losses. Even in that year, with a 74% approval rating following the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy’s Democrats lost seats in the House. Historically, the public uses mid-term elections to correct for the perceived excesses of the party in power, while the absence of coattail effects may result in some seats reverting back to the party with the natural advantage in the district.

Read my complete column on Fox and Hounds Daily

In the latest political indicator to show further shift toward Republicans, independent voters are now favoring GOP congressional candidates by 22% over their Democrat competitors, according to Gallup.

The ongoing shift of unaffiliated voters toward the Republican Party stands in stark contrast to the 2006 and 2008 elections when independent voters preferred Democrats. Taken alone this trend is significant enough, but when viewed together with falling Presidential approval (47%) and growing numbers of Americans who are identifying with the Republican Party (40%, up from 35% in Jan.), we see that we are working in a political environment very different than the one we were in a year ago.

Read the complete column on Fox and Hounds