Obama to California: Drop Dead*

I can;t say that I blame Barack Obama on the decision not to provide aid to California.

Unlike the situation with some cities in the 1970s, where much of the problem came from the fact that they were taxed to create suburban and exurban sprawl, getting little in return, California has had a failed government for at least the past 30 years, and the people who committed this crime are not the politicians, though they have been willing accomplices, but rather the whole population of the state, who have, though overuse and abuse of the initiative process, created this situation.

It's not just prop 13, which capped property taxes to the benefit of corporate land owners, it's a whole series of policies that have created mandates on the budget without a way to generate revenue.

I would suggest, in a sort of "fighting fire with fire" way, that someone in California circulate a new petition for a law that would require that anything passed by the initiative process that still has the force of law be brought up for a new vote every 10 years, or more accurately, every general statewide election closest to 10 years, so as not to have to pay for special elections, just the cost of putting it on the ballot.

I think that there would be a lot of trash that would be discarded, but would not be by the cowards in California state politics.

^*Here is the historical reference to New York's budget crisis in the 1970s.