Living in two states gives me a unique perspective. I've now decamped from the heat to the cold (I sleep in pajamas and a bathrobe in Half Moon Bay), and I am wondering whether all the put-downs of Arizona and its legislature are much more than just a limited view of what's possible.
In Arizona, the recession has brought a horrendous "sweep" of every program in order to make up a budget shortfall that will be larger next year. State employees, many already on food stamps when employed full time, were dismissed in droves, especially from the universities. Education is already dismal. Governor Brewer, a Republican but a moderate compared to some in the legislature, has even had her favorite programs abolished in the last set of budget negotiations.
Hands are wringing throughout Arizona -- no commitment to the future, no support for science and technology, how can we raise our children here? Fingers are being pointed. The Republicans this, the Democrats that...
So now I'm listening to public radio in the Bay Area in California. Yesterday there was a special election here, and the voters voted down everything. The pundits on KQED were analyzing the election and saying it meant that citizens want services but do not want to pay taxes. There is a disagreement on the radio about whether Californians are the highest taxed of any state, but someone with "information" says they are about in the middle.
That's a shock to me. California never can arrive at a budget, and every year the government pretty much has to shut down to bring the bickering to an end. This year, ideas for change included shifting to a part-time legislature, lowering the pay of people in state government, especially elected officials, and cutting retirement benefits.
I think California property taxes are high, but the natives think they are now, kept low by Proposition 13. However, California has very high state income taxes and sales taxes. Therefore, when the consumers have trouble, the deficit in state government balloons. And, as in Arizona, the bulk of the budget has been earmarked by voters for education.
I didn't know that about California, and it sends me a very clear message: Arizona and California are pretty much the same from a tax structure point of view. And they have the same problems. Education's in the toilet, programs are being cut, and the legislature sends just about everything to the ballot because no one has the political will to make a decision.
A caller to Michael Krasne's fine Forum program said it the way I would have: it's time for the citizens to make a decision about what they want government to do for them and how best to pay for it. We make other choices in our lives, but we seem to think government should do just about everything, and we think there's an endless stream of funds to do it.
However, we don't think those funds should come from us! Well, where the h*** else are they going to come from? Hello!
We need to have a serious of public forums in which these questions are discussed. Perhaps they are online, but I'd rather they be face to face, so citizens can see who is fighting for what government function, and can perhaps help each other. We've forgotten that we're a community, and that these decisions aren't abstract; they're about our neighbors and ourselves.