To liberal Democrats, increasing the size of state government — taking more and more money out of the private sector and putting it into the public domain, with politicians then making decisions about where that ever-increasing pot of money is spent — is like a religion. So much so that when they hear criticisms that government doesn’t tax people enough, or that too much money is being spent by government, their reaction is similar to what you would expect if you overtly questioned the very existence of God when talking to a priest, a minister or a rabbi.
It is that kind of idoletry of a vast role for government in society that leaves the liberal ideologues that control the state legislature completely unable to even understand or comprehend the mindset of those who believe that this country, America, is founded on the principle of limited government. The principles being espoused by conservatives in the legislature in putting the brakes on massive spending increases for California, and in fact calling for government in California to shrink back to a level that can be supported by the current amount of taxes, is foreign to them — and is blasphemy!
Today lame duck Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata held a press conference and made it very clear that the only budget that would be approved would include massive tax increases.
The good news is that the government-growth zealots who cannot fathom that government would actually constrict after years of massive overspending (significantly outstripping inflation factored into growth in the population) don’t hold all of the cards.
It was exactly because of the potential of what John Stuart Mill referred to as the "tyranny of the majority" that California voters presciently have placed a two-thirds vote requirement to raise taxes into the State Constitution.
Californian’s already are burdened with some of the highest taxes in the country already, due to the tax and spend spree ushered in over decades of liberal dominance in the legislature (and GOP cave-ins over the years).
It would appear that we are headed to pretty intense budget show-down as the "government must grow" zealots (they propose, in this most dire of predicaments, $3 billion MORE in spending and $6.4 billion in new taxes) meet a very resolved group of Senate and Assembly Republicans — who have all, to a person, made it clear they will not vote to increase taxes. Period.
To our zealots in the legislative majority, I would remind them that God did not get the State of California into this mess, their overspending did it.