Celebrating the Fourth of July while California Drowns: Jarvis and Norquist Win

In 2007 I wrote The Tragedy That is California Education and Now Wisconsin

...since the adoption of Proposition 13. The enactment of that law after a 1978 referendum created an unfair tax system...The result not only creates an imbalance in taxation but it strangles deprives government of needed revenues.... (ed note: he reference and strike out of the word strangle was deliberate)

Now comes this analysis from Kevin O'Leary writing for Time Magazine How California's Fiscal Woes Began: A Crisis 30 Years in the Making

The seeds of them were planted more than 30 years ago. They begin with the 1978 property tax revolt and the victory of Proposition 13...Proposition 13 further altered California politics by requiring a two-thirds majority for tax increases either at the state or local level...

For more than 30 years California has been living with a system of minority rule in which 34% of the legislature or a local community can stonewall the majority.

In 1978 when Howard Jarvis launched the campaign to destroy government in California he made it possible for Grover Norquist to realize his dream is to shrink government ot the size where he can drown in a bathtub.

Soglin two years ago: In the three decades following World War II, California public schools were the best in the nation. Now they are among the worst.

O'Leary today:  For example, pre-Proposition 13, California public schools were among the finest in the nation. After Proposition 13, education spending per pupil dropped to 48th in the nation.

Tragically the courts upheld the provisions that require a two thirds majority to undo this mess created by a majority vote.

If California is to survive, Democrats and Moderate Republicans need to disassemble the present system.

Comments

[Bill Swan]

Sigh. http://hamradiocentral.blogspot.com/2009/05/three-pillars-of-dysfunction-in.html

[R.J.]

Your philosophy reminds me of JFK Jr's piloting instincts; even when you're upside-down, reflexively pull back on the yoke.