Even the govenator can't save things

My friend Tim, over at Cafe Zeke also grew up in California, but is now an expat. As a former Journalist and history major, he has a pretty good take on the mess California state policies have created for themselves.

A long time ago, I covered state and local government for a variety of local newspapers. I watched, year, after year, as government, under the slowly swinging axe of Prop. 13 made cut after cut into vital social services and things like parks and libraries and shifted the tax burden to the "user" through fees. I saw politicians forced into funding needed projects through bond measures (the pay-later plan). And I saw how dysfunctional California's revenue system really was, a system where any crazy minority could hold the public hostage to its demands.

I wrote article after article on these issues, often containing warnings that these were short-sighted policies that would bankrupt the state. As an editor, I argued the same things more forcefully, pointing out the the long-term health of my community and our state depended on making more democratic reforms that allowed sensible revenue generation (taxation) and even sometimes got to make the point that those who get the most out of a society (corporations and the rich) should pay the most into it, rather than be supported by the "users" of public services (the middle class and the poor—in other words, me you, and just about everyone we know).

Read the rest here.