Another month, another set of Ballot Initiatives to vote on. Must be California.
I sat down for breakfast with an old buddy of mine the other day. It has been almost two years since we had seen each other. He's heavier now, but still one ticket away from a court imposed pedestrian lifestyle. He's no fan of Latino culture, but amazingly moved to Salinas where Latino is pretty much the culture . As an employee of the state, and its penal system, and with the mounting budget crisis in California, I thought my old friend might be voting yes on all these various Ballot Initiatives. I would be wrong. I have discovered, repeatedly, that economic self interest means nothing when it comes to elections. My friend informed me, in no uncertain terms, that no taxes means more than job security or affordable health care for all.
There are six initiatives on the ballot. All of these initiatives deal with trying to find some sort of revenue stream amid a brokered compromise patchwork of budget cap proposals and service cuts that would placate enough Republicans and Democrats in the state to pass. Okay, to be accurate, placate all Democrats and enough independent voters to pass. Getting these temporary patches in place, California might buy enough time to start working on actual fixes for the state budget, and the tortured budget process. But that is a pipe dream.
I was shocked to see one of the big progressive blogs and activist sites in this state, Courage Campaign, come out against the California legislature's brokered deal of Ballot Initiatives. Sure, I know most liberals at this stage are fed up with the conservative anti-tax, anti-social responsibility (insert entitlement here) mantra heard on talk radio these past 25 years. Having won a decidedly lopsided victory for two election cycles on a national basis the Left think it has a mandate to change how government does things. With Republican membership in Sacramento squeezed to near record lows in terms of legislative membership, and a governor who is an outcast among his own Party, this should be the time to move on the important issues with a Left driven agenda. That, too, is a pipe dream.
The six Ballot Initiatives offer no left of center move. Liberals feel the Initiatives only serve to keep a bad status quo in place while conservatives refuse to vote for any tax. The hard-line right advocates broad revenue cuts on the state services their money base wants to privatize and dominate. No surprise the targets here are prisons and schools. Wonder why our schools over the past twenty-plus years have been made to look like prisons? Look at who wants to own them, and why they feed one while starving the other. It is the curious case of factory farming people for profit.
When we had finished our little breakfast and time together I realized why we had opted not to speak with one another for such an extended period of time. All the differences that could be tolerated on differing subjects suddenly take on a very different cast when the political light focuses so intensely. There are probably thousands of explanations as to why this friendship, and millions of others everywhere in this crazy country, have burnt themselves out. My belief is that you just get tired of the same arguments. You realize that the subtle changes over time born from differing habits and venues has suddenly brought together strangers with nothing in common. Issues where shared goals should be easy to hold together split faster than atoms bombarded by a particle accelerator.
Facts matter less today than at any time I can recall. Talking points with deceptive or partial data get used for distortion purposes, and fill the media non-stop. Blogs shout simple points of view, whisper thoughtful exposition of the complex. People become parodies of themselves.
We can't blame legislators for every ill we the people have allowed to fester while failing to reach responsible agreements on difficult issues. Some people feel a social responsibility to share the burden and create a better place. Some people feel each little island unto itself can transform the world one little island at a time. Ne'er the twain shall meet.
The compromise measures will all fail, and California's crisis will continue. I find nothing left to say to my old friend who is now a stranger as we depart. He makes a right at the light, and I head east turning left.
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