Waiting for a Democratic Governor To Deal with the Budget? Don’t Count on It
The “kick the can down the road” cliché is making the rounds in Sacramento as the governor and legislature try to get a handle on the budget mess before the state runs out of cash. The can has been “kicked down the road” too often in the past using budget gimmicks to delay the hard choices necessary to fix the budget.
But some Democratic politicians see a strategic advantage in stalling real fixes to the budget problem now. They want to employ temporary patches to the budget like deferrals and accounting maneuvers until after the next general election when they anticipate Democrats will not only keep strong majorities in both houses of the legislature, but see one of their own elected governor. Then Democrats can implement their agenda of budget solutions.
However, even in this Democratic leaning state there is no guarantee that a Democratic governor will be elected in 2010. In fact, over the last 45 years Republicans have served in the executive chair more than two-thirds of the time. This phenomenon has similar precedents in an even bluer state than California.
Decentralize California — Reform now more than ever
“The greatest threat to liberty is the concentration of economic and political power”. Milton Friedman’s words have never more accurately described the reality of a situation as when this truth references the Government in California. Years of big government power grabs, shifting control over every aspect of life from the sovereign citizens to Washington and Sacramento bureaucracies, have left our beloved state and nation in an economic ruin and crises in confidence. Even when the people of a region send responsive representatives to the Legislature, they fight a loosing battle unless that battle is fundamentally shaped by the basic self government principle that economic and political power should be sent back to the people.
This should be our reform message to the people of California and our nation!
Across the state and nation, the people are rising up and demanding that Government return their God given liberties that Sacramento and Washington has stolen through excessive taxation and overregulation. The people’s cries are getting louder and rightfully so; Sacramento bureaucrats are getting more brazen and shameless. But demands for change are not enough. The answer to our problems, the tangible action behind out message is simple: Decentralize California.
Was Pete Wilson Right?
I’m interviewing former Gov. Pete Wilson this evening (MONDAY JUNE 29) at 7 p.m. at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica. The event, sponsored by Zocalo Public Square, is free and open to the public.
Wilson left office more than 10 years ago, but a look at his record as governor couldn’t be more timely. There’s a conventional wisdom now that our state is ungovernable. But Wilson faced nearly all of the challenges that currently face our state – an economic downturn, the collapse of the real estate market, a cash shortage that could require IOUs, a huge budget deficit, partisan infighting. He had to battle with all the same powerful interest groups that are blamed for gridlock today. But, whatever you think of his policies, he managed to make some progress and leave his successor with a balanced budget.
“Yes! We Have No Bananas;” Reflections on 500 US Troops Amidst a Coup in Honduras
While all eyes were firmly focused on Iran’s heavy-handed, internal crackdown; North Korea’s increasingly belligerent, attention-seeking, sabre-rattling; deaths of celebrities galore, and; the continued squirming of the Governor whose heart was broken in Argentina, something new in somewhere new reared its head again. But this time, with a twist. Sunday morning Talking Heads TV was interrupted abruptly by breaking news of a coup in Honduras.
It seems the sitting President of Honduras was kidnapped and spirited out of the country overnight – by the Honduran military. The same Honduran military which some 500 US troops that we have stationed in Honduras are there to teach and instruct on civil ways to handle political issues, crowd control and other useful tactics.