Kids do it when they’re in trouble. Husbands do it when they want to watch a game instead of doing chores. Dogs do it when they bring you a toy after they’ve had an “accident.” Even army generals do it when they want to disguise their retreat or find a devious way to win. And, according to Machiavelli, so do politicians.
That’s what is happening with the California Forward budget reform proposals introduced by Democrat legislative leaders – they are a distraction to facilitate deception.
Maybe we should call the proposal a diversion – a game or smokescreen – instead of reform. The real goal of this effort is to allow Democrats to raise taxes with a majority vote and eliminate the power Republicans have to stop their overspending.
The proposed “reforms” are riddled with loopholes that will render them useless, but the major hole in budget policy – the reduced vote count to raise taxes – will allow Democrats to carry on with their drunken spending barrier free–despite what voters have said they want in every poll taken since Proposition 13 was passed in 1978.
At a time when all state leaders should be focused on getting people back to work and cutting the amount of money government takes out of each Californian’s pocket, Democrats are doing nothing but distracting us from the real problem – a budget bulging with dysfunctional programs and unreasonable expenses.
Democrats have done nothing to address California’s fiscal problems. They have not reduced burdensome regulations on businesses to make it easier for the state’s employers to retain or hire more workers. They have not offered tax policy revisions that would make California more competitive with other states and countries in bringing to the state new businesses and jobs, both of which produce revenue.
All the Democrats have done is propose creating additional government jobs and funding extravagent programs with higher taxes.
Democrats did just one thing in the special budget session. They ended it without making even a surface scratch on the state’s deficit. Their budget ploy masqueraded as budget cuts, but really was just a diversion to hide their real agenda – raising taxes!