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This post brewing in my head was originally going to be about the rats I keep finding dead around my house, but now after talking to my buddy Aaron online, I have bigger rats to talk about.. our state’s leadership.
I am once again disappointed with the “leadership” of our state. Again they failed to fix the problems of our state. Again, they resulted to accounting shifts and borrowing instead of making the hard choices that needed to be made. Our state is broke and we cannot continue to service the projects we created when times were good. Yes, I understand that many people depend on these projects to survive. Yet, is it worth sacrifices the function government of over 32 million people for a smaller percentage? No. Just as history has proved time and time again, if prosperity isn’t available in the area you live, you relocate to an area where it is. Look at the people of the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Their crops were devastated by drought and prosperity had run out in the Midwest. Did these people dig their heals in and demand that the state help them? Of course not. The state didn’t have any money nor did the federal government at the time. So these people packed up their belongings (what they could) and headed West to our great state. They did whatever job they could do to get by and relocated with the seasons and crops. They made an honorable living trying to reestablish their lives. I think our state has forgotten our past and mortgaged our future for today.
We borrowed again from the future that we HOPE will be better. We need to cut the programs that cost us dearly–which is sadly education and welfare. Education will survive as it always does. It opens the door for innovation and maybe break down decades old of plaque that will help unclog the direct lifeline to our students. Instead of having schools and districts waste money on projects because the money is in the wrong category maybe schools will be able to be more efficient with less money.
Welfare is not meant to be a career. My family had to go on welfare at one point in the early 90s. I can remember how embarrassed I was. It also taught me that it was something I never wanted to be depended on when I was older. Welfare is designed to be the stopgap while you get back on your feet. I’m sorry, but if you can’t get on your feet after two years of support, then you have worn out your welcome. The Democratic leadership picked the wrong people to defend on this budget cycle. They could have allowed the Republicans to have this one and got so much back in return. Instead, they dug in and wound up costing the state billions more in undeserved support.
There have been numerous reports online about cities and states that are actually growing at this moment. I consider myself lucky to have a great job in this beautiful state. Sadly, not everyone is in that situation. Therefore, it’s time to pack it up and find another location that will provide your family the independent support it needs. I’m not shifting our problems on other states. These states are experiencing a labor shortage and could use the extra bodies.
Finally dear Capitol, you need to repeal Prop 13. It is the root of all our budget evils. I know it sounds like a good idea in theory and I defiantly enjoy the lower property taxes. But we need to get off the junk. We can’t be relying on people’s personal income tax to carry us through the year. It’s too volatile. Instead, we can ask our landowners to pay 2 or 3% of the value of their home in yearly taxes. This alone would help solve many of the cash flow problems we currently have. But we also need to simplify our tax code to make it easy for people to pay their fair share of the bill.
California is taxed heavily I know… I live here. But deal with it buddy. We are fortunate enough (Hawaii excluded) to live in the best state in the nation. During Gov. Pat Brown’s term, we built a University system that was the envy of the nation and the CSU system is still a great bargain even with Chancellor Reed’s proposed 30% increase. We have the best weather and most diverse population to go with the different terrains. You can’t be the best for free… it’s time to pay up Californians.
