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Ths Scourge of the Ballot Initiative
California voters routinely use the ballot box to approve big spending on big things — canals and superhighways, light-rail systems, levees and social programs.
Now, with the state struggling financially, they're being asked to do some ballot box demolition.
State lawmakers fighting to escape a riptide of budgetary red ink have two propositions on the May 19 special election ballot that would yank more than $2 billion from a pair of popular programs that help some of the state's most vulnerable: young children and the mentally ill.
This is one of the reasons I loathe the initiative process these days. Take Proposition 1E. It asks me if I'd like to temporarily transfer some funds earmarked for mental health services to the general fund. The amount at stake is a little over $200 million per year.
This is ridiculous. I have no idea if this is a good idea or not, and for a trivial sum like this I'm not about to spend hours poring over ballot arguments. It's like having a municipal initiative here in Irvine to decide if we want to plant a new tree in front of city hall. But year after year, we keep passing these absurd initiatives because, after all, they're all for a good cause. Education! Mental health! Children's hospitals! Bullet trains!
Bah. This is why we elect a legislature. Unfortunately, thanks to some even earlier initiative nonsense, the California legislature is unable to actually pass a budget during a recession. Our current pile of six initiatives (1A through 1F, for some reason or another) is on the ballot solely because one (!) member of the state senate extorted them as the price for his vote on a compromise bill to raise some taxes and cut some spending a couple of months ago. So now we have a special election, at a cost of God knows what, so that the good people of California can decide, among other things, whether to move 0.2% of the state budget from one account to another.
Idiocy.
This is absolutely apropos
This is absolutely apropos of nothing, but it appears that John Derbyshire of NRO and Corner infamy has admitted that his wife is going on the gov't dole! (Buried in a rant about -- what else -- illegal immigrants.)
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDM0YzZkNzMxZjRiZmI2MWY4ZmY2OTY3YmQxN2MzNDg=
"Mrs. Derb — a legal immigrant who waited ten years for her Green Card, then three more for citizenship — entered the ranks of the unemployed last Saturday. Unemployment benefit will be part of our household income for the near future."
Gov't benefits for me, not thee.
Ok, sorry for the diversion. Carry on. And yes, Kevin, your state is in a, uh, state of freefall.
Agreed
How about instead of us voting what program to put on hold, we just don't hold this election and save millions that way?
Nice place to visit, but ...
I lived in SoCal in the early 80s when attending grad school at UCLA. Being in my 20s, I took advantage of hiking in the Sierras, Joshua Tree, Mt. Shasta, etc., and have excellent memories of the state. I enjoy visiting whenever I have the opportunity. However, it's near the bottom of my list of places I would retire to because the guiding principle of California politics seems to be letting the lunatics run the asylum. And that's coming from someone who's lived in NYC since then, where we have our own issues of continual politic intrigue and high taxes. Regardless, I believe we have a more effective (state and local) government compared to Cals, and it's one that I can live with.
I'm inclined to vote for 1D
I'm inclined to vote for 1D and 1E simply because they move that special ballot box money into the general fund. If the legislature wants to fund the programs they then can do so. Hopefully the "temporary" part is its usual fiction.
Our current pile of six
Our current pile of six initiatives (1A through 1F, for some reason or another) is on the ballot solely because one (!) member of the state senate extorted them as the price for his vote on a compromise bill to raise some taxes and cut some spending a couple of months ago.
Actually, that's not quite true -- the budget deal that the legislative leaders and the Gov worked out things that could only be implemented at the ballot box, including the transfers out of the earlier ballot-box programs and the spending cap, which is the big deal.
Maldonado's hold-out is responsible for a ballot initiative that'll go up next year that would totally reshape how we do primary elections, which is plenty ridiculous by itself, but this set of initiatives aren't traceable to him.
Also, typo in "The" in the subject line.
The worst part
Is that initiative 1A is another bollixed up attempt to amend the Constitution, which has already been amended numerous times by initiative. As we've seen time and again, complex formulas and fine print bring unforeseen consequences, especially when the numerous conflicting propositions are interpreted by the courts.
I can't think of a worse way to make policy.
Consider that if these
Consider that if these propositions fail at the ballot box, the Republican argument against tax increases and in favor of still more and much larger spending cuts becomes even stronger. Try finding Republican votes for a compromise budget for next year after that.
as said above
you can really only characterize 1F as the work of Abel Maldonado and his tears. The others really had more to do with Arnold and the Republicans.
But the Democratic establishment has wholeheartedly supported them. Over the last week I have publicly debated members of the State Assembly and the Majority Leader of the State Senate on these ballot measures.
It'd be one thing if the election would put us any closer to needed structural reforms. But it doesn't. It just adds layer upon layer of dysfunction onto an already suffocating fiscal straitjacket. And so they should all be defeated until the Democratic leadership starts calling for things that will actually break the budget logjam - mainly repealing the 2/3 requirement for budget and tax votes.
As for the Republican argument against tax increases becoming stronger if the vote is defeated, that's only if state Democrats decide to hear what they want to hear. In actuality, the screaming from the grassroots about these measures signify a disconnect between the people and their leadership. We're tired of seeing them fail to notice the elephant in the room as they have for the past 30 years.
No kidding
Bah. This is why we elect a legislature.
You guys let your elected officials off the hook way too easily. I still think that you should have been stuck Grey Davis for his full second term.
Thanks for the help
I was trying to figure out which way to vote--they're wasting my time, too--and I want to thank Kevin and dday for helping me feel good about my first impulse: no on them all.
If all we have to worry about with a no vote is Republican talking points, and if that no vote sends a message to the inept dems in the legislature, I'm in. I frankly don't care if one or two might be a good idea--this budget process infuriates me, and I refuse to participate.
The ancients, who we all
The ancients, who we all assume we are so much smarter than, told us that direct democracy was stupid. The people who wrote our federal constitution were steeped in this knowledge, and many would have considered the direct democracy that murdered Socrates almost if not equally as abhorrent as a monarchy.
The democratic power of the people was seen as a check on the other forces in government, not as The Thing In Itself.
California flunks this in its constitution. That is why we are fucked.
Voting No Across the Board
And I have a feeling a lot of my neighbors will do the same. These initiatives are confusing and stupid and a waste of time. They apply a short term fix but do nothing to correct the underlying structural problem(s) (start with term limits and 2/3 majority required for budget approval).
Experts.
So why is a representative so much better than just following the advice of some expert you respect? True, it's more effort to go to the voting booth than to just have a representative vote for you, but in terms of decision-making, all you have to do is find someone who is willing to delve into everything and whose opinions you tend to agree with. Then just do what they say. This is a better method than representation, because a) individual voters can pick their own representatives, as it were, and b) those who do want to delve into specific issues and make up their own minds, are free to. What's not to like?
This is not just an abstract
This is not just an abstract argument- real people are going to be hurt by these propositions. I would urge you to pay attention. My wife probably looses her job if 1D passes, but, more importantly, a lot more people will be hurt by the cutbacks.
Kevin, you may have not noticed, but government programs that help poor people aren't all that popular here in Orange County- in fact, most of the local politicians would rather not acknowledge that there ARE poor people living here. The early childhood development program is one small ray of sunshine in a very bleak environment here- the goal is is to actually save money over the long term by identifying and helping at risk kids, and helping people is what my wife is really good at...
Yes, prioritizing all the conflicting demands for budget should be part of the legislatures job, but currently, we have this crazy quilt system of propositions and legalized corruption in the legislature that demands voters make intelligent decisions at the ballot box right now. God help us.
Don't throw the baby out
tagged as:- solution
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The initiative process is a great thing - it gives the people a check on their representatives and makes it so they can address issues that the legislature refuses to (like, say, governmental reform and decriminalizing marijuana). However, just like representative government, the initiative process in California badly needs some reform, like what's being proposed in Oregon to have citizen juries review each initiative ( http://www.healthydemocracyoregon.com ).
I mean, you're not proposing getting rid of representative government just because it gave us the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, a lacking response to global warming, the Vietnam War, instutionalized segregation, slavery, the Trail of Tears (among other atrocities against natives), and so many other horrible things, are you?