CALIFORNIA AND THE ELECTION MODERATE SELFISHNESS IS THE STATE WE'RE IN.

Byline: CHRIS WEINKOPF

FORGET, for a moment, that last week Californians overwhelmingly re-elected one of the most liberal members of the U.S. Senate. And forget that we wanted to put another liberal senator in the White House. On Tuesday, we also voted to lock up criminals and throw away the key, and we soundly rejected a beta-version of socialized medicine.

Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, California in 2004 is not a liberal state. Yes, there are a good many liberals who make California their home, as do many, albeit fewer, conservatives. But it's not the sensibilities of Berkeley or Bakersfield that decided this year's election or determines the state's political ethos.

How can we characterize California's bewildering politics? The outcomes of the propositions on Tuesday's ballot give us some indication.

If this were a truly liberal state, voters never would have backed Proposition 64, which reins in the abilities of trial lawyers and environmental groups to shake down businesses for pricey settlements. Nor would they have rejected Proposition 72, which would have forced all but the smallest of employers to cover 80 percent of their employees' health-care costs. On both measures, the state's voters came down squarely on the side of business.

Take that, Ralph Nader!

And if California were as liberal as its reputation, voters wouldn't have rejected Proposition 66, which would have gutted the state's ``three strikes'' law and put tens of thousands of felons back on the street. They also would have voted down Proposition 69, which will create a genetic database of everyone arrested for a felony.

Take that, ACLU!

Not that anyone would mistake our state as red America with an ocean view. In addition to backing Sens. Barbara Boxer and John Kerry, California voters re-elected overwhelming Democratic majorities to the Assembly, the state Senate and their U.S. congressional delegation. In decidedly nonconservative fashion, we passed two big-spending general-obligation bonds, Propositions 61 and 71, which, with interest, will cost $7.5 billion to repay.

Take that, Milton Friedman!

And while moral issues were of paramount concern to voters nationwide, they meant very little to the Golden State. Ignoring the ethical concerns, Californians signed on to Proposition 71, thereby creating a constitutional right to embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.

Take that, God!

All in all, the state's politics are as unconventional as our governor - the Republican who hails from Europe, Hollywood and Kennedy country. The days of Gov. Moonbeam and the Reagan Revolution are long behind us, that's for sure.

So if modern California politics is neither liberal nor conservative, what is it? Well, consider the fates of Propositions 63 and 67:

Both measures promised funding for worthy purposes - Proposition 63 to provide psychological care to the mentally ill, Proposition 67 for emergency medical services. But while Proposition 67 asked all Californians to share in the burden by adopting a 50-cent tax on phone lines, Proposition 63 imposed the cost on a relative few - anyone earning upward of $1 million a year.

A principled liberal would back both propositions - what liberal would mind paying higher taxes for a good cause? A principled conservative would have backed neither - a state that spends $100-plus billion a year doesn't need to take any more from its taxpayers. But Californians, being Californians, split the difference. We backed Proposition 63, while voting down Proposition 67.

Read our lips: No new taxes - unless they're on someone else.

Who can blame us? We like big government. We just don't like paying for it. That's not liberal or conservative. It's not even libertarian. It's human nature.

That's why we were so enthusiastic about the general-obligation bonds on Tuesday's ballot - billions of dollars for children's hospitals and medical research today, all for the low price of just $20 million a month for the next 30 years. Credit-card shopping has the soothing effect of making everything seem free, especially when it's our kids who'll get the bill.

Buy now, ``pay later'' is the ultimate nonideological statement. The ideologue postpones or denies personal gain for some higher good, be it the free market tempered by traditional morality (conservatives) or collectivism (liberals). Thus conservatives oppose embryonic stem cell research on moral grounds, even though its proponents promise amazing cures that could benefit conservatives personally. Liberals, likewise, are willing to give up more of their own income for a more equal society with a wider safety net.

Suckers!

The California 2004 ethos is a lot simpler and easier: What's best for me right now? Sacrifice, patience and discipline are so old-school.

The presidential election? A no-brainer for Californians. Which candidate sounded more like one of us? The one who said we must fight a long, hard, costly war, while embracing difficult social policies that uphold timeless moral truths? Or the one who suggested that we could make the War on Terror disappear with a summit, and, on social issues, if it feels good, do it?

Answer: Bush, 44 percent; Kerry, 55 percent. Californians opted for the liberal choice, but not, in many cases, for reasons that were liberal in the FDR sense of the word.

Applying a favorable spin, one could call our state's ambiguous politics moderate or pragmatic. A less charitable description would be selfish or lazy. Both spins contain elements of truth.

On the plus side, Californians have transcended many of the divisions that leave other parts of the country intractably divided. We've also wisely started to treat criminals more harshly than we do employers. We tend to fight about politics less, and we're quicker to find common ground.

But there are drawbacks, too. We have little concern for fiscal or personal responsibility, and all bills come due eventually.

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(color) All in all, the state's politics are as unconventional as Gov. Arnorld Schwarzenegger, shown here in a victory celebration Tuesday night in Beverly Hills.