Okay, help me understand the political happenings in Los Angeles yesterday when the president came to town and was greeted by the governor at a town hall meeting.
President Obama spoke positively about the initiatives supported by Governor Schwarzenegger in California’s May special election. The main initiative creates a spending limit. So the president is praising the idea of a spending limit at the time he is offering record setting trillion dollar budgets and enormous spending packages through his stimulus program.
At the same time, Governor Schwarzenegger heaped warm praise on the president and his handling of the economy. Part of the president’s economic package includes tax cuts for many Americans. Governor Schwarzenegger’s recently passed budget included tax increases for all Californians.
I guess that’s why they call it political science. You need some scientific formula to figure all this out.
But I figured one thing out yesterday. How to easily pass a tax increase by a two-thirds vote and have the public agree. Get the legislators angry at one group of people and make sure the voters are just as angry at those same people. The tax on the AIG executives who received bonuses passed by an overwhelming 328 to 93 vote.
So who are the people angry enough at in California that the legislators could get the two-thirds vote to tax and get no protest. Well, there’s the legislators themselves. Legislators got only about 20-percent approval ratings in recent polls. Imagine the legislators passing a tax increase and getting no protests. But, I don’t think they’ll do it, do you?
You see why this political science stuff is so confusing?