Comeuppance: Lo Que Has Guardado

Options for Closing the Budget Gap « California Budget Bites lists many essential considerations our legislators should be considering (they should have authored this great piece!) going forward.

But, how did we get here? Don’t we remember during total recall of Gray Davis that Arnold was going to solve the probelm by “opening the books”…I guess books are only valuable if you know what to do with the contents…

If I had to blame a group of people, it would be the Democratic Party for its abandonment of safety net programs and its championing of “liberal” economics.  It’s important to remember that although 3/4 legislative margins are required for tax increases, spending priorities don’t require the same margin.  It’s this de-prioritization which leads to a perennial battle over the funding of critical safety net programs…yes, some of these cuts are suggested by Democrats.

California has in recent history had a Democratic Party majority which has been quite lackluster in what they have contributed to local and national legislative agendas.  Take a minute to think about the size of the state’s congressional delegation at a federal level and now try to think of groundbreaking legislation they have put forward on anything…yep, that’s the sound of crickets.  Immigration reform, worker’s rights, environmental protections…all led/put forward by legislators from not as “liberal” states as California.

Part of this has to do with hubris: we like to say that we’re the vanguard and that “as California goes, so does the nation”.  In fact, we’re seeing the opposite in terms of local responses to economic crises and particularly in terms same sex marriage…the vanguard is now the naked emperor.

And, all of this in a “liberal” state where we have the best weather but possibly the most compelling proof of how partisan politics lead to nothing but negotiating our futures, and those of our children, into indentured servitutes.  Hopefully, the crisis here in California will create spaces for non-NPIC organizing that isn’t tied to a political party or political factions…we really need those spaces!

OK, I have a lot more percolating but I’m tired!