American Values: Vote ’08

The coming year will re-shape much of our politics — in Los Angeles, in California and across the nation. We will, of course, elect a new president, ending the Bush administration and charting a new political future at home and abroad. That is historic enough, and already has captivated an eager electorate. But it is only the capstone of a crucial year. In California, voters will be asked to reconsider the most basic aspects of our political landscape — the terms that officeholders in Sacramento are allowed to serve and, with luck, the drawing of the districts they hold. Closer to home, the February ballot will include a measure whose outcome will do much to dictate Los Angeles’ fiscal future, and a summer election will determine the balance of power on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The news pages of the Los Angeles Times will cover each of those elections and offer up the facts. We on the editorial pages hope to provide insight and leadership into those same campaigns. We will analyze all of those elections — the candidates stumping for office as well as the proposals being offered for your vote. We will endorse, offering you our best judgments about which of these would serve our society best. And we will invite you to share your opinions with us, in the form of Op-Ed pieces, letters to the editor and submissions to our various discussion boards.

All of that will be collected on latimes.com/values08, which will grow and evolve as this year of monumental choices unfolds. We will update the site frequently, and hope you will keep coming back — to agree, to disagree and to share your views, with us and each other.

Welcome to 2008, a year of politics.

— Jim Newton, editor of the editorial pages