Saturday, July 11, 2009

Whats Wrong with California

Howard Jarvis. That's what's wrong with California!
I know, Howard Jarvis is dead but unfortunately his legacy lives on. Jarvis and his followers managed to convince the good citizens of California that taxes are bad and government is evil. Nothing could be further from the truth. I will admit that in the days of the infamous “prop 13” property taxes had gotten out of hand. The solution was extreme and they continue with the “no new taxes” litany oblivious to the consequences.
We need government.
We need it to build roads and patrol them. We need it to supervise industry and yes even our financial institutions, to protect our water, our air, our food.
We need good schools we can’t all afford to send our children to private schools.
We need a social safety net in case we lose our jobs and health insurance (hard to believe that that could happen). We need Medi-Cal to care for the indigent elderly who have lost their life savings or never earned enough to provide for their old age.
We need CalOSHSA to protect our safety at work.
We need government to license drivers to make sure they are competent and insured.
We need courts to protect our person, our rights and even our wealth and our ability to see it passed to those we choose after our death.
Californians are a caring and generous people who have passed many initiatives for what the majority has believed to be worthwhile programs. Unfortunately, a minority blocks the ability of the state to pay for these programs. No one likes to pay taxes but the alternative is disaster. We are not selfish, we are not greedy, but we have been sold a “bill of goods” by those who are. It is time to tell those who worship at the altar of Howard Jarvis to go away. They are not looking out for the interests of California.
It was never my intention that this be a political blog. I would rather show what is wonderful and beautiful about my home state and even occasionally other parts of this great county. But I am getting increasingly frustrated and I wanted to vent.

9 comments:

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Well said. I'm not a Californian but obviously what happens there affects the rest of the states. I see the same thinking here in Oklahoma. Government is bad, all government, except for prisons, we need lots of those and we need to fill them up with non violent offenders, especially women. Taxes are bad and the number one priority of the government is to lower taxes.

I don't that thinking goes anywhere good.

Linda Reeder said...

The Libertarian mentality of some conservtives is making it difficult to function everywhere, including Washington DC. Here in Washington State we have avoided some of California's issues, but not for lack of trying by the "We hate government" initiave crowd.
Your list of purposes government serves is excellent.

Ebie said...

How about 9.75% for our taxes?

Martha Z said...

Ebie, I knew my postition would not be popular with some. My husband and I are in a high tax bracket and since we have no mortgage we can not deduct our state taxes on our federal except in those rare years when the mutual funds we depend on for support throw off a lot of capital gains (which are not given a tax preferance in California).
I even pay use taxes on my internet purchases. I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. Call me strange but I am willing to pay for good government.

Joe Todd said...

Found this poem from the 40's and posted on my blog kina interesting.http://www.myqualitytime.net/2009/04/gates-of-hell.html

Let me just say I don't know what the answer is

Katney said...

You had your Howard Jarvis, here in Washington we have Tim Eyman. And he keeps on and on with a new initiative every year.

Anonymous said...

hi,
if they lift prop 13 many senior citizens will no longer be able to live in their homes of 40 + years. they are now on fixed incomes and with the hyper-inflated housing market i would venture to guess many would not be able to even pay a small portion of increased property taxes based on inflated housing values.
it is a very difficult situation for all. indeed something needs to happen to change it.
i too, pay taxes on internet purchases here in virginia.
i agree that driver's licenses should not be handed out to just anyone. i thought that when i lived in california for 40 years.
these are not new problems but ones that have been compounding year after year for many years.

unfortunately those that are flooding the state do not have the means to contribute to the programs they are using to keep the state afloat and those that are paying to keep it going (albeit not enough to pay for the flood of newcomers from south of the border and beyond) should not be burdened any more.

my thoughts being if you cannot pay for services rendered, leave. california is becoming a huge welfare state and it cannot continue on this road.

my two cents.

have a wonderful evening.

Jane Hards Photography said...

This is fascinating to read from someone in the UK.

Owlfarmer said...

Well said, Martha. Those who hark back to things the way they used to be, or wax nostalgic about small government in years gone by don't seem to realize just how many people live in this country now. Small government only works for small populations; complex situations cannot be approached simplistically. For all of California's problems, however, I'd move back in a cold minute if I could. Living in Texas is getting more and more difficult by the day.