California’s new legislative analyst issued a report yesterday in which he suggested that legislators might want to place a tax increase on the ballot. Quickly the idea has been embraced by some as some sort of epiphany – a breakthrough on how to get past the political impasse on how to solve the state’s overspending-induced financial crisis.
Not so fast. The legislative analyst (the one who, along with his predecessor, has joined in the “we need new taxes” chorus) seems to be drawing the most bizarre of trivial distinctions – the difference between voting to raise taxes, and casting your vote to place a tax increase on the ballot. That may seem like a huge difference to some liberal with a razor sharp focus on what is always the goal – increasing the size of government. But from where I sit on the conservative – libertarian side of the isle, they are one and the same.
We live in a democratic (small d) republic, we the citizenry select, through elections, people to represent them in office, and make decisions. Sure, California has a rich history of use of the ballot box for governing – but frankly the most significant and important policies voted on by the people of this state have been placed on the ballot outside of the legislative process, usually in response to inaction or egregious action by the state government.
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January 9th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Flash Report Junkies…letting another government paid hack set the agenda is a major loser for you… Do you think the moochers are going to vote for a cut in thir benefits? Hardly. Those chubby teachers, those firemen in their dirty yellow fire coats, alarmed nurses, cute little kids- the little girls in pig tails, the usual elected gov. hacks,the overweight policemen will be pumping us day and night with commercials on radio and TV, home mailers, door-to-door….save us….”its for the Kids’, your house will burn down, the bad guys will get you, your kids may possibly get dumber than they are now…etc.etc. will be their appeals…
One good thing about going direct to the people….we may drain the union, gov. worker, lobbyists’ swamp of precious dollars that they use to rip us off on a continuing basis to protect power, salaries, pensions, holidays, sick days, vacations, exotic trips and fine wine….