Responding to Mr. Mathews’ Bargain
Yesterday, Joe Mathews challenged me on this site to accept
a bargain that would eliminate the two-thirds vote on taxes and fees for a
guaranteed referendum by the people on all tax measures. He asked the question:
"Should a majority of voters in one election be able to overturn the votes of
2/3 of their elected representatives?"
My answer is: Yes, voters should have the power to make the
final decision on taxes if they choose.
As I made clear in the piece
that prompted this debate, just because voters choose legislators who lean
toward supporting taxes does not mean the voters themselves support such an
action. I offered numerous examples when this was so: Proposition 13’s property
tax reform (1978), Proposition 218’s right to vote on taxes (1996); and
Proposition 26’s two-thirds vote on fees (2010).
Storming the Bastille
Yesterday was Bastille Day. The legendary French holiday that commemorates citizens rising up against their oppressive leaders. In fact, it was just before the height of this French revolution in 1789 that Marie Antoinette uttered that famous phrase heard ‘round the world, “Let them eat cake!” A phrase which resembles the attitude in Sacramento all too often.
And so, as the California Legislature winds down its legislative session this week before summer break, this day forces me to reflect back on the storming of our own Bastille that has led us to this day.
One cannot ignore that impact that the last two years of ‘rousing Tea Party activity and Taxpayer activism has had on our state capitol building. Beginning in the Spring of 2009 and continuing through this day in 2011, the citizenry of California made it loud and clear what they wanted: no new taxes.
Prior to our own storming of the Bastille in 2009, we had witnessed Tax increases and members of both parties selling out on Taxes. Mistrust abounded. We even witnessed a Republican Governor back a ballot initiative for a $16 billion tax increase. The world couldn’t have been more upside-down.
Protecting the ‘Golden’ Egg
If I were a panhandler in Los Angeles, most days I’d hop on the subway and exit at the station that’s the closest to Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive.
The wealthier people in Beverly Hills, as well as the tourists who visit there, would be my best targets, I’d figure. After all, there’s a reason they call it the Golden Triangle.
I wouldn’t be alone. There’d be hundreds, maybe thousands, like me. And it wouldn’t take us long to figure that at the end of the day, we may as well sleep in a nice doorway or a park nearby and save the commute time.
Of course, all of that’s assuming that a subway stop is built at the Golden Triangle. So it’s little surprise that some business owners in that area met recently and decided to start pushing back on the prospect that a subway stop will be located near them. They don’t object to the planned subway, they just don’t want the station. They don’t want the Subway to the Sea to send them a gusher of folks from Skid Row.
They have other concerns as well. The merchants don’t want three years of construction. And they worry that shops near any subway station inevitably will cater to subway riders instead of the limo passengers who now frequent their pricey neighborhood.
Are We Really Ready For “Carmaggedon?” – Desperate Musings On Closing The 405
Jean-Luc Godard’s French Film
Classic "The Week End" (1967):
Plot Summary (if you have not had the pleasure of seeing this film): "A
supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending
nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French
bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer
preoccupations."
Angelinos, and those soon destined to visit the fair city of
Lost Angeles, are in for a rare experience this coming weekend. The 405 will be closing Friday
night, July 15 to take down one bridge that crosses over the freeway and put up
another. Then, after one of the most insane traffic weekends ever anticipated
for the West Side of LA, it will magically re-open ‘early’ Monday morning, July
18 – in theory, anyway, if all goes well.
If it does not re-open Monday morning July 18, as scheduled, well . . .
. all hell will surely break loose here
in the City of Angels, and all bets for a happy ending will be off.
Even the famous Hitler rant from the movie Downfall was used effectively to express
the concern and frustration about this potentially cataclysmic event. (Warning:
Strong language ahead.)