We Suck

Well, every proposition went down to defeat yesterday, except for the measure to limit legislator's pay when the budget is late. That will show 'em. So now we have an even bigger budget deficit to deal with, which means even more cuts, which the voters of California will also hate, even though they caused it.

I highly recommend this LA Time piece pointing out the obvious - voters are to blame for the budget mess:

In the Proposition 13 tax rebellion of 1978, Californians voted to require a two-thirds approval by the Legislature to raise taxes, a major obstacle to budget agreements. Over the last couple of decades, voters have also passed a patchwork of ballot measures directing billions of dollars to favorite causes, among them public schools and transportation projects.

On Tuesday, Californians showed they were unwilling to scale back their demands in tight times: Voters turned down propositions that would have freed up money that they set aside years ago for mental-health and children's programs.

...

The public's contradictory impulses were laid bare by a recent Field Poll. It found that voters oppose cutbacks in 10 of 12 major categories of state spending, including the biggest, education and healthcare. Yet most voters were unwilling to have their own taxes increased, and they overwhelmingly favored keeping the two-thirds requirement for tax hikes.

The voters of California vote themselves tax cuts and spending increases every chance they get, then blame the elected for not meeting their impossible demands. Someday they will have to chose, but that day wasn't yesterday.

In the words of the great Mo Udall " The people have spoken, the bastards."