California voters are said to be in big trouble. You see, they didn’t vote the way their newspapers and politicians told them to vote on the six ballot measures on the May 19th ballot.
The first five measures — a combination of tax-raising and spending shifts to cover a $21 billion budget hole — were defeated by voters by a whopping two-to-one margin.
Only the sixth proposition passed — and it cuts the salaries of legislators and state officials.
The lessons are obvious, but not likely to be learned by the political elite, who now argue that the ballot initiative process should be restricted if not abolished altogether because the people didn’t vote according to their wishes.
Lesson One: Raising taxes isn’t terribly popular even in a blue state. Voters seem to think legislators should find ways to cut back spending without gutting essential services. In every county, and even in very liberal Los Angeles and San Francisco, these ballot measures went down hard.
Lesson Two: It’s good when politicians have to ask us before raising taxes. While some bemoan that voters aren’t minding their governors, I’m of the school that believes that those who govern are supposed to mind the voters.
Golden state voters are fortunate that politicians had to seek their approval to raise taxes — and smart not to have given it.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
4 replies on “Golden State Voters”
So you think it is GREAT that the California budget will need to be cut by 25%. No problem with education being cut, jobs being eliminated, etc. Where will unemployment benefits come from?
This is just the tip of the iceberg. You ain’t seen nothing yet!!!!!
Be careful what you wish for.
i am in CA. all the cost incresses (tax) would have only reduced the budget over run by less than 1/3, not take care of the whole thing. why raise taxes when there going to cut anyway.
Funny how voters that understand what’s going on tend to vote more conservative and sensible. Voters on government handout programs could care less about ballot initiatives unless they are going to cut their “free money.”
Voters who rail about government spending have conniptions if you try to take away their pet programs. What you or I consider wasteful is vital to someone else. If we were that upset about government waste we would have long ago stopped voting for the big spenders. Instead we continue to vote for the one who “brings government money (jobs) to the district”. California voters got themselves into this mess. Proposition 13 is thirty years old, isn’t it? What have they done since then but elect those who promise more state spending?