California's Worthless Legislature
I know I've said this before, and I'll likely say it again, but California legislature has some of the most worthless scum the government has to offer. They are beyond incompetent, beyond idiotic to the point of dangerous, beyond corrupt, and into full-on maliciously destructive. I wouldn't wish personal harm on anyone, but if there was a karmic line, they would be ahead of ambulance-chasing civil lawyers for some karmic retribution for all the damage they have done, and continue to do, to the once-great state of California. Not all of the legislatures are bad, to be sure, but the bad ones are bad enough to give all of them a bad name, by reputation alone.
Take, for example, just the latest end-run around the will of the people. As a refresher for readers not in or too familiar with California recently, the state has a budget problem, to the tune of roughly $26B this year (based on optimistic estimates, no doubt). The most recent attempt to "confront" the massive wasteful corrupt out-of-control spending which has put the state into this position was to propose massive tax hikes, which would have passed, except for a while back someone did a smart thing, and passed an amendment requiring tax increases to be approved by either 2/3 of the legislature, or the voters. This amendment is the only thing standing between California and a complete collapse into anarchy.
Predictably, the legislature failed to get a 2/3 majority for the tax hikes: thank goodness there are still a few sane people there (and man, that's a thankless job, to work with scum all day and just oppose everything they try to do, and then get lumped in with them in generalizations by bloggers like me; I have respect for those few members of California's legislature, keep on keepin on, please). The tax increases then went to the voters, where they were soundly and entirely predictably rejected as the complete wrong approach to fix out-of-control spending. The Governator even pointed out that the voters had rejected new taxes, and the will of the people was to cut spending instead. Now, as we barrel along toward running out of money in roughly two weeks, we have the budget proposal from the Democrats in the legislature.
So what did they do to balance the budget? The proposed tax increases, again. No, you didn't read that wrong: those f-ing assholes, after all the back and forth, years of delays, decades of overspending, getting every single one of the tax hikes they put on the special ballot for the voters just a few months ago rejected by the people of California, those arrogant bastards proposed more tax hikes!
... I'm near speechless at the audacity, the callous disregard for the people or anything resembling doing what's necessary for the state, or any hint of a lack of total corruption and maliciousness.
I'd like to propose a new amendment for the next ballot: any legislator who proposes, or votes for, a tax increase of any kind after the voters made it crystal clear that they didn't want to pay more taxes in the state with the highest combined tax rates in the entire country, is fired, immediately, and fined a couple million dollars to help close the deficit they likely helped create. I hope by next year that would be a pretty easy one to pass, and we'll have to resist the urge to add the death penalty on too. The state is bankrupt, in concept if not in reality, and we need to clean out all the corrupt failures in management and start over.
Take, for example, just the latest end-run around the will of the people. As a refresher for readers not in or too familiar with California recently, the state has a budget problem, to the tune of roughly $26B this year (based on optimistic estimates, no doubt). The most recent attempt to "confront" the massive wasteful corrupt out-of-control spending which has put the state into this position was to propose massive tax hikes, which would have passed, except for a while back someone did a smart thing, and passed an amendment requiring tax increases to be approved by either 2/3 of the legislature, or the voters. This amendment is the only thing standing between California and a complete collapse into anarchy.
Predictably, the legislature failed to get a 2/3 majority for the tax hikes: thank goodness there are still a few sane people there (and man, that's a thankless job, to work with scum all day and just oppose everything they try to do, and then get lumped in with them in generalizations by bloggers like me; I have respect for those few members of California's legislature, keep on keepin on, please). The tax increases then went to the voters, where they were soundly and entirely predictably rejected as the complete wrong approach to fix out-of-control spending. The Governator even pointed out that the voters had rejected new taxes, and the will of the people was to cut spending instead. Now, as we barrel along toward running out of money in roughly two weeks, we have the budget proposal from the Democrats in the legislature.
So what did they do to balance the budget? The proposed tax increases, again. No, you didn't read that wrong: those f-ing assholes, after all the back and forth, years of delays, decades of overspending, getting every single one of the tax hikes they put on the special ballot for the voters just a few months ago rejected by the people of California, those arrogant bastards proposed more tax hikes!
... I'm near speechless at the audacity, the callous disregard for the people or anything resembling doing what's necessary for the state, or any hint of a lack of total corruption and maliciousness.
I'd like to propose a new amendment for the next ballot: any legislator who proposes, or votes for, a tax increase of any kind after the voters made it crystal clear that they didn't want to pay more taxes in the state with the highest combined tax rates in the entire country, is fired, immediately, and fined a couple million dollars to help close the deficit they likely helped create. I hope by next year that would be a pretty easy one to pass, and we'll have to resist the urge to add the death penalty on too. The state is bankrupt, in concept if not in reality, and we need to clean out all the corrupt failures in management and start over.
100% with you on this one. That's why I had to leave after a year. Every move they make in California from the left or right is a bad one. I joined a poltical group and helped out with some agendas i agreed with when I could, but as of the last few months even my own party is way the heck out of control!
ReplyDeleteSo I move back to the best state in the US of A New York (IMHO =] ) only to find political bickering in Albany! Still, California is out of control and I don't know if they realize how much suffering they are causing out there. From selling off national and state treasures, to closing state building one day a month, and everything in between, every thing they have done has had a negative impact, mostly because of preschool-like inability to work together.
The Law - I disagree that there is an inability to 'work together' in the state government here. We have essentially had unanimous, unfettered 1 party rule here for decades now. Even the Governator, (after about 1 year of independence), became part of the machine here. What have we gotten for progressive/liberal/Democrat dominance? The worst fiscal calamity of any state in the Union, businesses and productive earners leaving in mass exodus, a welfare state that would support the entire GDP's of some counrties. And yet as Nick points out here, it still isn't enough. This is the model that the Obama Administration is pushing and it will spell a CA like disaster for the entire nation eventually. That is why guys like Nick and I may sound so alarmist at times. We know this. We know that the same pols that have wrecked our beautiful state are now taking their wretched policies the the national table. We know that the nation will not be immune to the destruction of said policies as CA is a prime example of.
ReplyDeleteWell, for my 2c, I'm kinda in the middle. While I agree that California has had one party in control during the entire downward slide into the abyss it now finds itself in, and it should be a strong warning for the direction the nation is now heading, I also think there's certainly a lack of the ability to work together. The 2/3 rule for increasing taxes, the saving grace which has allowed the state to get only as bad as it is now (and not much worse), prevents the Democrats from unilaterally ruining the state with their tax and spend policies.
ReplyDeleteGovernment (in theory) is supposed to be about people from various sides and positions, finding common ground on issues (which then represents common ground for most people in the state), and passing laws which reflect only the common ground, and not everyone's other partisan agendas. Unfortunately, to most politicians, and the Democrats in particular, this concept is as complex and incomprehensible as tensor fields, or the federal tax code. This is evident in everything they do, and in particular in this latest debacle of a "budget proposal", for which they simply ignored the positions, thoughts, and ideas of anyone outside their own partisan group, wrote their own plan contrary to both the governor's and the people's will, and are now voting on it by themselves like preschoolers huddled in a corner giggling as the state financially burns down. It's like their only answer to real serious problems which need immediate addressing is "nuh-uh"; it's infuriating, asinine, irresponsible, destructive, and should be cause for immediate termination.
This is evident in everything they do, and in particular in this latest debacle of a "budget proposal", for which they simply ignored the positions, thoughts, and ideas of anyone outside their own partisan group, wrote their own plan contrary to both the governor's and the people's will, and are now voting on it by themselves like preschoolers huddled in a corner giggling as the state financially burns down.
ReplyDeleteMan, if I can find them (most of them are deleted) I should show you the email I got from moveon.org and venice for Obama. I'm as liberal as the next guy but the californian democratic party is so freaking out of control it is ridiculous. Almost like rebels without a cause.
Change is important. I know you may not agree with most of my political philosophies, but I think i understand that there is an order of operations at least. If California democrats could slow their freakin role for a hot sec, maybe they can see that some of their ideas really don't work. Even the way they went about fighting prop 8 was wrong.
The CA GOP are no angels either. Their inability to generate any new ideas makes them just as ineffective. add to that the incessant bickering and you have yourself a political crapfest. it is unreal...