California, that self-absorbed nation-state on our left coast, has always prided itself on being a trend-setter in American culture. Currently the trend they're leading is "What do you do when you've promised citizens the moon, and the bill comes due?"
Put to a referendum, people voted against limiting the government cheese but also against tax increases. Quelle surprise.
I am convinced that the thin end of the political wedge in America is to be found under your typical California elected official's hat.
Barry will give them a check, but California will squander it on a Unicorn Gay Marriage Commission or the like.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not know where the breaking point is in American politics, but I am certain California will find it first.
Shootin' Buddy
The thin end of the political wedge in America is to be found under your typical California elected official's hat.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the statement about it being fun until you ran out of other people's money?
ReplyDeleteGmac
their specific taste is for nacho cheese...as in:
ReplyDeletehey, kali! dat not yo' cheese!
but they'll get it anyway, didn't you see the terminator fawning over the bobo's cafe edict yesterday? quid pro quo for arnie.
jtc
wv: unroox...i wouldn't hold my breath.
When you put in place laws that require referendums on just about everything, then give the CA voting public a crummy education, it's no wonder they can't figure out the math there.
ReplyDeleteI had fun there for a few years, but I'm glad I got out when I did.
ReplyDeleteSame thing is coming down the pike on a national scale, and soon.
ReplyDeleteApparently, Americans want Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and all manner of Government Goodies, and they want them for free, gosh darn it.
The disease is not confined to California. It's just slightly more advanced there.
Apparently, Americans want Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and all manner of Government Goodies, and they want them for free, gosh darn it.Well this is what happens when you have citizens who do not understand civics. When the government proposes something like "free" health care. The people respond as if the government is telling the truth! The problem here is that the government in California has been lying to its citizens and hasn't been held to account. So the end result is what you see here- Duplicity, broken promises, and a government that now seeks to punish its citizens because it won't hand them anymore money. In all fairness- you can take this mold and put it over the Obama administration within the next 3 years.
ReplyDelete"What do you do when you've promised citizens the moon, and the bill comes due?"Ask for a federal bankruptcy bailout. That way, citizens from states with sound fiscal policies get to finance your partying for you.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every bill that comes out of Sacramento has legal-language written into it so the money can be spent on other things - the bucket they sell comes with a hole in it, in some cases a faucet - and there are no consequences for the Legislature. And there should be consequences, serious ones that involve losing body fluids, and pieces.
ReplyDeleteWeenies claim it's Prop-13 that tilts property taxes against young people who want free medical care, free school lunches, universal mass-transit to the moon and to preserve the flying unicorn-bird for eternity -- in favor of old people who would otherwise loose their homes and die coughing on the beach like harbor seals.
So eliminate the property-tax and take away that dumb argument.
Feel-good backpatting self-suckers recently voted for a $10 billion bond initiative for a Super-Duper Flying Speedster-Train: it had that language in it too, like well marbled beef it was shot through with it - it will never see a spade of dirt turned. But the money still flows out like water...
We try to stop it and vote against it but the SEIU and other Unions run Sacramento and pull the strings, and they have the Media behind them - the Media is unionized too.
DirtCrashr,
ReplyDeleteReading your posts is sometimes as poignant as reading about the people standing all orderly on the quarterdeck of the RMS Titanic, singing "Nearer My God To Thee".
$DEITY bless you for your loyalty to the cause...
There is a bit of a wrinkle in the BO bailout (at least for now). Arnie was able to get 8b for medicaid, but the rest of the free money(tm) was held up because Arnie made cuts that Obama didn't like.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment, it seems Arnie is aware he either isn't going to get any more bailout money, or that the amount of money he will get getting won't be enough.
But don't take that to mean things will start changing here just yet. Even if Arnie gets it, there are still heavily entrenched interests determined to exhaust every trick in the book to get more money before cuts make it to the actual meat of the problem. Including the hail-Mary pass of avoiding the constitutionally required 2/3 vote for new taxes by swapping "taxes" with "fees," which only require a simple majority.
Now is when we really get to see what they've got up their sleeves.
Thank God I left that "State" the first chance I got! I saw the hand writing on the wall a long time ago. Just breathing the fresh air of freedom crossing the border was liberating.
ReplyDeleteThe really pathetic thing is that
Arnold and the legislature in Sacto will cry to the "chosen one" for money to "fix" the problem.
These clowns at that state capital
all look like drunks who finally realized that the bottles empty and theirs nothing left.
There is a saying "As California goes, so goes the county". Well, I'm not getting on that bus baby.
10th Mountain
The older I get, the more California resembles Heinlein's vision of it in his novel Friday. Except for the political assassinations.but I have hope for that prophecy, though.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Rabbit.
"Nearer My God to Thee," indeed, this place could crack in two any minute, literally! Did you know the entire Titanic could fit into Hanger-1 at Moffett Field with room to spare, in fact two Titanics could fit side-by-side. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm stuck here and have to make the best of it, but like others I will probably (have to) retire elsewhere. It's too bad that State's Rights don't extend to requiring visas and passports for weirdos from other states who move here - like Nancy Pelosi - and a requirement that that of the Presidency, that you have to be native-born to run for office in CA (works for any other state as far as I'm concerned). That might restrict things a bit but as an Anthro-major I don't mind having localized culture with all its hidebound traditionalism, funny clothes, and knee-slapping dances - we could be like the Tyroleans! Call us Granoleans! Localized culture gets us under the Diversity Radar - with guns and funny talking ways! In fact parts of LA are already like that, it's just not English talking-ways.
Damn Federalism lets just anybody travel all over the damn place. Cheers and bless you all!