GovernorSchwarzenegger's continued persistence in the face of Democraticdemands for higher taxes is, as already mentioned, one of the morerisky moves of the governor's political career.
With only two months togo before California completely runs out of money,there are many people who are looking frantically for some way to shiftthe blame either from Schwarzenegger to the Democrats, or from theDemocrats to Schwarzenegger. One YouTube video even compares Schwarzenegger explicitly to Scrooge, from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol,a frenzied reaction that betrays the desperation which the Left mustfeel when faced with a governor who, for years, they probably thoughtwould cave in to their demands if they going ever got politically tough.
Now, staring down the barrel of Governor Schwarzenegger's metaphoricalshotgun, California's Left wing is shocked and horrified to at lastdiscover that "Hasta la vista, baby" wasn't actually a bad campaignslogan intended to drum up Hispanic support, after all!
As this is still the season to be jolly, (it's still Christmas, youknow) and a little holiday charity may be in order, it might be lessproductive to make nastyremarks about the sad state of Schwarzenegger's opposition than togenuinely reflect on what caused this budget crisis in the first place.In this respect, there is blame to be laid at the feet of many people,Schwarzenegger and the Democrats included. As the World Independent Newspaperreports, one of the problems which Schwarzenegger has faced is aninability to manage the budget effectively because of "DirectDemocracy." The instances of "Direct Democracy" the report citesare shamelessly biased (Proposition 13 caused the budget crisis!), butstill hold a grain of truth. There are times when, conceptuallyspeaking, a measure limiting taxes might be undesirable, even if itsconsequences are desirable 99 percent of the time otherwise. Thirty years ago, itseems unlikely that anyone could anticipate a time when Californiawould run out of money, as no state has ever done such a thing. But asit may happen now, Prop. 13 is getting a bad rap for not being designedfor an unforeseeable situation - unjust, perhaps, but still a goodpoint.
But there are other problems with the "direct democracy" processbesides tax limitations, and the biggest one has to do with controllingspending. People tend to be extraordinarily cavalier with otherpeoples' money, and even if all the direct ballot measures trying toincrease spending don't always pass, they often center on emotionallysatisfying areas of spending that are very difficult to refuse.
It'sworth noting that similar propositions that were on the ballot in 2008 - Proposition 1a, Proposition 2, Proposition 3 and Proposition 12- all passed. This is no accident. It's very hard to say no toincreased spending to high speed rail, more protection for farmanimals, increased spending on children's hospitals or increasedveterans' benefits. But like bulimic children in candy shops,California's citizens continually need to understand that no matter howlarge and sweet a particular bit of welfare statism might sound,consuming too much of it will ultimately lead to a need to purge.
That,or the citizens may end up choking on their own profligacy, and need astrong-armed governor to come in an execute the Heimlich maneuver.Whichever result happens, California's government needs to movequickly, before mommy runs out of money and the candy shop permanentlycloses, leaving its customers to starve.