Californians, You’ve No One To Blame But Yourselves

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As a liberal democrat living in the rural mountains of South Western Virginia, I find myself defending “the left coast” quite a bit.  That said, the recent ballot initiatives in California are simply indefensible.

TANSTAAFL. If you live in California and don’t know what that means you need to march down to your local Barnes and Nobel and pick up  a copy of Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.

There are no giant rocks hurtling through the skies over Los Angeles but California is nonetheless a state teetering on the brink of financial apocalypse.  Functionally bankrupt, the voters in California have just rejected the only measures available that could have done the state’s balance sheet some good.

No one likes paying taxes and it’s hard to cut programs that offer real benefits for real people but There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch… not even in Hollywood.

Nevermind California’s electoral history, one look at the state government and it’s clear that conservatism – or at least Republicanism – is alive and well in California and largely running things there.  Given that fact and given three decades of the GOP painting Liberals as “Tax and Spend” (emphasis on Tax) it’s hard to see California’s problems as anything but an outgrowth of the same fiscal insanity that has dominated every Republican Presidential Administration since Reagan.

And so yes, liberal Californians may point at the conservatives in their midst as the numbers come crashing down, but one inescapable fact remains the case: in 2008 California went to Obama.

Decisions are made by those that show up.  Californians?  You’ve no one to blame but yourselves.