Up for vote in
the California Primary Election are the linked Propositions 57 and 58.
I believe that they both have to pass otherwise neither goes into
effect. Proposition 57 is a $15 billion bond to keep California running
this year, presumably so that Governor Schwarzenegger has more time to
deal with the budget deficits. Since the bond is unconsitutional
(because bonds can only be issued for concrete projects), Proposition
58 in part is permission to issue the bond.
State Senator Tom McClintock is against Proposition 57. He continues
the argument that California can deal with the deficit by making
government more efficient. And although I agree, it's not going to
happen in the next few months so if Proposition 57 isn't passed a lot
of programs will have to be cut. And the other thing is that he comes
out looking like a sore loser to me.
Proposition 58 is otherwise unremarkable. It tries to force the state
government to balance the budget and gives the governor some extra
authority to try to make the state legislature to do that. But there
are several loopholes that I could see without having to read the
argument against. Still, I really hate it when the opposition says
something like "the state government also approved electricity
deregulation and look where that got us!" Hey, I'm sure we can easily
also point out unrelated things that the government has done right.
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Personally,
I'll vote yes for both Propositions. To a certain extent that makes me
a hypocrite since I have said that State Bond Measures are a bad idea
and that I wouldn't vote for any of them. A $15 billion bond is not
that bad since with inflation it only comes out to a 25% overhead. But
we're still talking about $15 billion when it would be better, though
not easier, to do budget cuts and force some efficiency out of the
state and local governments.
But apparently this is how Governor Schwarzenegger wants to solve the
budget crisis now and in the future. I voted for him and for now at
least I have to give him a chance to implement his plans. It's the new
elected leader blank check period when he should be allowed to make
sweeping changes. He may succeed, he may fail, but if we're not
supporting him, if we and the state legislators are fighting him then
he's going to ahve a very hard time succeeding.
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