The
other morning I read an article by a major columnist that said the goals of
those who oppose tax increases – or at least the result of such opposition was (1)
the privatization of public schools, (2) driving students of limited means out
of the universities and (3) eliminating tax-funded health care and social
services for the poor. The same day another major columnist claimed people
who opposed Brown’s tax increase were disingenuously denying responsibility for
soaring tuitions and the shredding of grandma’s safety net. He asserted if such policies were followed to
their logical conclusion there would be "no other
honest choice but to starve college students" and "poor grandma".
First of all, let me say something some apparently may find controversial: I like grandmothers and do not want them to starve. Second, the problem with their rhetoric is
that it distorts the problem we face. Who
pays how much in taxes is a real issue. However,
to say those of us who opposed the tax increase without other reforms (and a vast
majority of Californians did so), will oppose imposing taxes even if it means
people will starve is hateful, disingenuous and arrogant – not to mention
inaccurate.
Our
state government is like a leaky bucket.
We need to repair the leaks before
we put more water in the bucket. The
Governor and legislature seem to believe there is an endless supply of water (taxpayer
funds) and that just to keep grandma alive taxpayers must pour more and more water
into the bucket at ever increasing rates.
Such approach not only is wasteful but unsustainable.
The
ones that really are putting grandma, not to mention public safety and our
educational system, at risk are the Governor and the legislature. It is unconscionable that the same day
tuition at our colleges is increased 13%, they increased administrators’ pay by
23%. It is unsupportable that in the
last 10 years the number of administrators in the UC system has doubled. It is unfathomable that as a matter of state law school officials are required
to retain the most expensive teachers, even if that teacher is not the most
qualified.
Those of us who oppose Brown’s leaky bucket tax increase are not
responsible for the fact union members often are making over $400,000 per year;
receiving both a full salary and full pension because they technically "retired"
years ago. We are not responsible that
the average state worker receives retirement benefits (pension and
health care) worth $1.2 million. It is not our fault lifeguards who can
still lift me over their heads (no easy task these days) get pensions of over
$100,000 a year. And we certainly are
not responsible for the fact San Jose had to make drastic reductions in its
police force because it costs $180,000 for each cop on the beat.
These are policies of the public employee unions made law by the
Democrat legislators and Governor they control – not us.
Many public employees provide a valuable
service. However, their pay, benefits and
job security should be comparable to private sector workers. Our public sector employees deserve nothing
less, we can afford nothing more.
As everyone knows
(at least we used to know, I am not so sure any more) competition increases
performance and lowers cost. With respect
to California’s prison system, we spend $47,000
per prisoner per year, over 50% more than the national average and nearly three
times what Texas spends. And we are
going in the wrong direction with Governor Brown approving an increase in prison guard pay – one of
his major donors. According to
California Common Sense (CACS) competition in this field alone could save
California families upwards of $2 billion annually.
It is not just that
the money is wasted, the services provided are appalling. 23
years ago Californians passed Proposition 98 to assure superior education
funding. However, over the past several
decades California has gone from having one of the best education systems in
the world to one of the worst in the United States – on par with states like Mississippi
and Louisiana.
Despite our
record-breaking spending on incarcerations, the penal system is so
dysfunctional for the first time in the history of our country the U.S. Supreme
Court has declared that mere imprisonment in a California facility is "cruel
and unusual punishment".
Throughout our
history people risked their lives to come to California; whether it was
climbing the rocky Sierra Mountains, traversing the sweltering Mojave and
Sonoran Deserts or risking death on the treacherous South China Sea. I am sure each of you know someone whose
journey to and time in California you find inspiring. Yet our government now goes out of the way to
make it more difficult for such individuals to climb the ladder of success and punishes
them once they achieve it. Just looking
at it from a tax revenue perspective, instead of the broader benefit to society
as a whole, unshackling the tremendous power of
our people and our ability to come up with solutions to problems that have
vexed society for centuries will do ten times more to increase state revenues
than to punish economic activity by increasing the amount payable to Caesar for
the same level of activity.
We have put too
much faith and fortune in the hands of the state bureaucracy and not enough in
the hands of those who really made this state great: we, the people. Californians are
the solution to California’s problems. It
is time to unshackle the power of our people, compensate public employees at
the level they both deserve and we can afford and increase competition between
the government and the private sector. In
so doing we will once again make California the envy of the world and in the
process create sufficient revenues to keep our communities safe, have a first
class, affordable education system – and take care of grandma too.