Things aren't looking so bright in the Sunshine State, where the world's 8th largest economy is locked in a deadlock over a now $29 billion budget deficit. Yet in the midst of the political games, and very scary and serious impending cuts to education, parks, and state welfare programs, lies the opportunity for a fascinating political test of sorts. A gem of a test in fact. Something that political scientists, academics, pundits, and the interested should be literally salivating in anticipation of. But let's back up, and look at what's actually on the table, and what's still cooking in the kitchen.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto any bill the state legislature puts before him that either includes new taxes, or doesn't address the entire budget crisis all at once. Of course 1990's tax cuts and Prop 13 (the 1978 bill that made it impossible to raise or introduce new taxes in California without a 2/3 majority) are the reason why California is in this crisis, but the governator has chosen to toe the orthodox conservative line on taxes. Instead, he is proposing some of the most severe spending cuts imaginable:
- Eliminating the Healthy Families Program, which would cut coverage for nearly 1 million children
- Cutting the state’s MediCal program by $1 billion
- Eliminating the state’s main welfare program for the poor
- A 10 percent reduction in CAL Fire’s budget, closing 11 conservation camps and 20 fire stations, staffing each engine with three firefighters instead of four
- Releasing 40,000 inmates (who are “non-serious, nonviolent, non-sex offenders”) and releasing all undocumented immigrant prisoners
- Privatizing prisons (which is only likely to end up costing the state more money in the long run, as privatization is wont to do)
- Making a $3.6 billion reduction to education funding and shutting down all public schools for 18.5 days
- Laying off 51,000 teachers and 90,000 support staff
- Increasing schools’ class sizes by 17 percent
- Laying off 5,000 state workers, those not laid-off will receive a 5 percent salary cut
- Closing up to 220 state parks and/or cutting park funding by $70 million
- Selling state assets, including the Del Mar Fairgrounds and the governor’s mansion
- Suspending Proposition 1A from 2004 to borrow up to $2 billion of property tax revenue from local governments
- The consolidation or elimination of more than 30 boards, commissions and departments
- Cutting 18 percent in pay for all state elected officials
- Cutting of 27 positions in the governor’s office; remaining employees will take a 9.3 percent reduction in work hours and pay
- Cutting AIDS testing by $55.5 million
Some of these cuts are insignificant, and perhaps should happen (like selling the governor's mansion and fairgrounds), but the big ones--especially the education cuts--are truly appalling, and will have a devastating effect on California's future and economic competitiveness.
So far the Obama administration has held firm in resisting California's pleas for a federal bailout. Even though I see why Obama is resisting bailing out one state (for fear that the 30 others in crisis will follow), California not only should recieve federal money, but is entitled to it. See, we have this phenomenon in the United States of liberal taxpayers from blue states actually supporting red state conservatives (who decry social programs and taxes) thorugh federal tax welfare. Blue states (with the exception of only recently turned blue New Mexico) pay far more in federal taxes than they recieve back in federal spending. With help from Republican congressmen like Eric Cantor, red states top the list of federal dollars recipients, while their Senators and Representatives are hypocritically raising hell about Obama's stimulus plan, but feeding at the trough and boasting about securing funds for their states. California has it worse than almost any other blue state--it recieves only $0.78 for every $1.00 its citizens pay in federal taxes, ranking 43.
Pragmatically speaking as well, it's a bad idea for the government to let California fail. Time and time again California has been the innovative engine of the United States, economically, environmentally, and socially. California pushes the rest of the country forward, and takes the lead on a myriad of issues that hold global significance. California voters approved a levy to create a high speed rail network (no this isn't irresponsible given their fiscal crisis--it's funded seperately and will benefit California in the long run); California has taken the lead on environmental regulations. It is imperative for the United States that California have the economic ability to continue to be the “early adopter” that pushes the US forward to progressivism when the rest of the country is too slow or resistant.
However, with a federal bailout not looking like a viable option, the state remains in a crisis. And here is where we get to the good part. I've long been a proponent of Northeast Ohio breaking away from the rest of Ohio (why should we let the conservative, rural south drag us down? Let's create a green, prosperous, urban society on our own). While that proposal is going nowhere, in California, politicians are actually seriously considering creating two seperate state budgets as a way to break the political deadlock.
This would without a doubt be the greatest experiement and head to head test of political ideologies ever conducted in this country. One state with one budget crisis; two seperate solutions happening simultaneously and independently of each other. The political inland can slash services while the liberal coast can make intellegent cuts and increase taxes on things like tobacco and oil, as well as roll back things like the Vehicle License Fee cut that Schwarzenegger preserved during his first term in office.
How cool would it be if this really happened? It would be the ultimate real world test of liberal vs. conservative governing ideologies. And in five years, we would be able to truly say, "we told you so" (or perhas hang our heads in defeat...although I would bet heavily on the former). Are the California conservatives willing to put up? Do they have the balls to put their ideology to the test? Here's to hoping that California is bold enough to go for the only solution that might work, and one that could have far-reaching impacts beyond California and its budget.
