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In a Perfect State of Confusion

By Henri - Posted on 17 February 2009

Or How California Went From Golden State to Broke in One Decade

I live in California for which I apologize in advance to those of you who do not. I moved here over twenty years ago. The culture shock was enormous and I nearly left before I adjusted. The weather kept me here. After well over forty years of Minnesota winters the warmth and beauty of California seduced me. Of course when Minnesota picked Jesse, “The Body” Ventura for governor I found it amusing. I am no longer amused.

California has a small deficit, forty six billion dollars if the latest numbers are to be believed. Never mind the fact that you could safely tuck most state budgets inside that deficit and leave room for a couple more States real annual expenditures.

California is special. At one point, around ten years ago, California was the sixth largest economy in the world. We lagged behind the USA, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy or France at that time. The rest were smaller, even China. Now we are possibly running the largest deficit in collecting taxes versus commitments of any non-national government in the world. How did this happen?

It is tempting to say, “We picked Arnold for Governor,” and leave it at that. Unfortunately, the governor matters so little in California; we could have picked Gary Coleman and nothing would likely be different. It is not in our Stars but in ourselves that this deep and disturbing fault line lies. We have turned the California Legislature into a body where the head and the tail are not in communication with one another.

If you think of a Stranglovian Monkey with its tail wrapped tightly around its neck you will get the picture of our legislature at work. The Legislature in California requires a two thirds majority to pass the annual budget authorization bill. The Republicans have taken the monkey’s tail and tied it into a noose using that senseless rule. Not that the Democrats are without blame. They have given the prisons to the Guards Union, the schools to the Teachers Union, and unlimited power to the people.

That power is expressed in ballot measures called, “Propositions.” The People of California can do anything to their government they like if they can get enough people to sign the petition. A simple majority vote of the electorate has made effective politics in California into an endangered species with a suicide pact. We have propositioned ourselves into a liaison between a shopaholic culture and a miserly legislature. Something has to give.

The original Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest, solved their problems more effectively than California’s legislature has to date. They survived. California may be the first state in our union to commit fiscal self immolation. It’s still warmer here than Minnesota in the winter, so I’ll stay in spite of the incredible political and financial mess.

After all I could have a Minnesota winter to contend with and an unending Senate race between a guy named Coleman and a comic named Franken! What’s a little financial disaster in the midst of such warmth and beauty compared to that?