We voted in budget-busted California again yesterday and a vast majority of residents simply didn't give a shit.
From the Los Angeles Times:
As Californians headed home from work, many continued to bypass the polls in what has been a special-election day marked by extremely light voter turnout and expressions of frustration and ambivalence among voters confronted with complicated budget-related propositions.
By 4 p.m., voter turnout in Los Angeles County was 11.57%. In a comparable statewide election in 2005, turnout had reached 27% by the same time.
By 4 p.m., voter turnout in Los Angeles County was 11.57%. In a comparable statewide election in 2005, turnout had reached 27% by the same time.
About 2.4 million voters cast ballots by mail for this election, a fraction of the 13.7 million Californians who voted at polling places and by mail in the November presidential election.
Ultimately, five budget measures were defeated by the few of us who bothered to show up at the polls. The only measure to pass was one to curb legislative salaries.
Almost 100 years ago, Progressive-era Governor Hiram Johnson justly initiated the recall, referendum and initiative system as a needed reform to the undue influence of Big Business on state government. That was then; today, undue influence can also be exerted by backers of these recalls, referendums and initiatives by those same Big Business interests against whom Johnson warned. In today's environment, ballot-box governance via direct democracy in California has got to go. Our schizophrenic voting has translated into greedy inmates running a needy asylum; Californians want and need services, but few want to actually pay for them.
Conservatives and Howard Jarvis acolytes think we are getting what we deserve.
From an editorial in the Los Angeles Times:
What utter nonsense. These critics conveniently forget that spending has grown with the population and with healthcare costs that outpace the rate of inflation. As private hospitals fail, those costs are increasingly picked up by government at public emergency rooms. Some "spending" actually comes in the form of tax cuts, such as the reduction of the vehicle license fee that propelled Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger into office; that cut increased the state deficit yet showed up on the books as an expenditure because it de-funded nearly $6 billion in local support that the state then had to backfill.
As for those luxurious extras the state supposedly doles out, they largely consist of public education, which parents consistently demand, and safety-net services such as Medi-Cal, which become more necessary in times of economic distress. The so-called tax-and-spenders cut Medi-Cal earlier this year, but the cuts were reversed in court, and further slashing of most state programs will result in penalties that cut off badly needed federal funds. Meanwhile, the same conservatives who scold about rampant spending have larded up budgets with new unfunded mandates to arrest more people and imprison them for longer.
As for those luxurious extras the state supposedly doles out, they largely consist of public education, which parents consistently demand, and safety-net services such as Medi-Cal, which become more necessary in times of economic distress. The so-called tax-and-spenders cut Medi-Cal earlier this year, but the cuts were reversed in court, and further slashing of most state programs will result in penalties that cut off badly needed federal funds. Meanwhile, the same conservatives who scold about rampant spending have larded up budgets with new unfunded mandates to arrest more people and imprison them for longer.
So it's back to the drawing board for Arnie and our catatonic state legislature.
When's the next vote, anyway?
2 comments:
There are only two categories of liberals: The Power Seekers and the Dupes. The Power Seekers understand perfectly well what they are doing, undermining and dividing America, and they do it for their narrow goal of short term gains of power. Almost all liberal leaders, whether elected officials, union leaders, civil rights gurus, professional feminist, some political columnist or college professors etc., are in this category. The Dupes are a little different. They have a child's political philosophy. They are the true believers, who believe in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that liberalism improves peoples lives. You don't strike me as a power seeker, Johnny.
Yeah, I'm actually a neo-socialist. We run along the Third Rail.
Post a Comment