As some of you know, there will be a special election on next Tuesday in California. Ballot propositions 1A - 1F are up for the voters approval.
I have been thinking about these propositions for quite sometime now, and I finally decided to vote NO on all of them. My main reason for this is the simple fact that the size of government needs to decrease. Something needs to be done to counter the trend of having the government grow by leaps and bounds, as it is now. I still strongly believe in a free market and individual liberty. Because of our slumping economy, socialism is creeping in and deemed as our savior, but I think the long term implications of this will be devastating to our country. It is a sad but well known fact that freedom is easily lost, but extremely difficult to recover.
I will briefly explain my thought process. For your information, here is a website that does the analysis: http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/title-sum/prop1a-title-sum.htm
Good luck reading through them by the way. They are deliberately made to be very confusing and have many hidden agendas. As an example, while prop 1A looks from the outside as a "budget stabilizer", part of what it does is give an enormous amount of power to the governor, and facilitates raising taxes. While it does seem to emphasize "pay as you go" fiscal policy, it extends the recent tax hikes for another two years, and make it easier to make more tax increases in the future. The deception used in these propositions almost makes me vote no just for that reason alone.
The main reason why I was torn is because of prop 1B. As many of you know, I am pursuing a career in teaching. I do feel that education is very important and should be well funded. So there are obviously some personal bias here. The more funding for education, the easier it is for me to get a job, ect...
However, despite my love of money, I have a stronger desire to see my daughters grow up in a country that I recognize. Everyone always wants a piece of the pie from the government, and that is why it keeps making promises, and then borrows money to try to fulfill those promises. The game needs to end. People need to start getting back into the habit of relying on themselves, and not the government. The government needs to get in the habit of stepping back and getting out of the way. It was upon this attitude and this work ethic that made this country great.
So what about the props? Well, basically 1-C - 1-E are engineered to tweak with a variety of different avenues such as lottery and health care to put off and ignore the inevitable: the fact is that the California government is too big, and cannot sustain itself without an unbearable burden on the tax payers. As would any other cooperation, it is time to downsize. Our current level of dependency on government will make it painful, but hey, we may surprise ourselves with what we can accomplish without the government as our crutch.
I will be honest, these propositions are still confusing to me (as they were written to be...), as always I welcome anyone's thoughts, opinions, or questions on the matter.
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4 comments:
Since I wrote this post, I did hear one convincing argument for props 1D and 1E, which causes me to reconsider those two. Part of the problem with California's budget is our all-too-educated electorate keeps voting in propositions that borrow money and give it to any special interest group with a good sob story.
By the way, that is one aspect of California government that I think should be fixed, People should not have such a direct power to borrow or take money from the state coffers. The equation is pretty simple really:
1. Decide that your special interest group wants more money.
2. Write a proposition that takes out a government bond to give you that money.
3. Hire out $1 per signature for people to stand out in front of Wall-mart, and say "Just sign these. Don't worry, they may not even make it to be voted on".
4. Get enough signatures for the proposition to be in the next election; this cost is only a fraction of what you will steal back from the tax-payers.
5. If it has anything to do with animals, children, education, or law enforcement, your proposition has already passed. Relax and wait for your money.
6. If not, think of a good sob story and start running commercials. Relax and wait for your money.
Anyway, props 1D and 1E borrow back money from funds that some of these propositions created. One is the cigarette tax fund which currently goes towards all those anti-drug and anti-tobacco commercials we see on TV which have been proven to be very ineffective. The reason a lot of people smoke and do drugs is simply because people tell them not to. The other is a mental health fund created by another proposition.
So maybe that does make sense, to take back money from unnecessary propositions (or borrow back?).
On the other hand, the California government needs to face the music and downsize. If we send a strong message that that is their only alternative, it might be the only way that it actually happens.
I agree with you Hyrum. I plan on voting No on all of them. California is in for a world of hurt with a government so bloated, it will be virtually impossible to sustain for very much longer. Raising taxes or providing avenues for taxes to easily be raised in the future is most definitely not the answer. And this is coming from one who is a teacher, just like yourself!
Of course, I'll vote tomorrow, but my goal is not to stick around in this state, even though I love and have grown up here, because I'm quite certain it's only going to get worse. Until California government starts cutting back in the extreme, no problems will ever be solved. /rant
Hyrum I love your analysis of bonds in california. every single election we steal money from future tax payers and give it to cute puppies! It is so unfair. Thanks for your post and analysis. I was planning to vote no on all the props but now i might vote yes on 1e and 1d. By the way, have you seen the ad for prop 1A with the handsome firefighter that has all the dirt on his face? Priceless! The fact that stupid California voters fall for crap like that at least makes me glad that they'll get what's comming to them after all these tax raising schemes go down in flames, the budget still isn't balanced, and no one will loan us any money. The only one who will save our bloated govenment at that point is Obama and some borrowed Chinese money.
You should leave California, other states aren't nearly so complicated;) I hear Virginia is nice!
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