The Best Form of Bad Government
March 2, 2004, California State Primary Election Ballot
Proposition 56: “Permits enactment of budget and budget-related tax/appropriation bills with 55% vote. Legislature, Governor forfeit compensation each day budget is late. Fiscal Impact: Varying impacts from lowering the vote requirement for budget-related measures-including changes in spending and potentially significant increases in state tax revenues in some years. Impacts would depend on the composition and actions of future Legislatures.”
I’m sorry (and I genuinely am) but a general populace which includes individuals arrested at WalMart while trying to pay for toilet paper with a million dollar bill seems biochemically incapable of passing qualified judgement on an economic proposal of this magnitude and subtlety. Even after a degree in social sciences I didn’t want to touch that one. Although, on the general principle that anything you’re not willing to work hard for can’t really be important, I think the esteemed members of our legislature ought to stick with the 66% approval rating. Milling around trying to convince each other of things is what keeps them busy.
Prop 56 also includes this little gem of a provision: “[Prop 55] Prohibits a legislator from punishing or threatening to punish another legislator for a budget-related vote.”
My problem with this tidbit shares its origins with the warning on my roommate’s curling iron which reads “Do not insert into any orifice.” We can now infer that somewhere out there is a) a woman who apparently mistook her curling iron for a Q-tip, if not worse and b) a 70-year-old senator beating Leland Yee over the head with his walker and screaming “I told you to vote FOR the tax cuts you moron!” I find neither of these images salubrious to my faith in humankind.
Proposition 56: “Permits enactment of budget and budget-related tax/appropriation bills with 55% vote. Legislature, Governor forfeit compensation each day budget is late. Fiscal Impact: Varying impacts from lowering the vote requirement for budget-related measures-including changes in spending and potentially significant increases in state tax revenues in some years. Impacts would depend on the composition and actions of future Legislatures.”
I’m sorry (and I genuinely am) but a general populace which includes individuals arrested at WalMart while trying to pay for toilet paper with a million dollar bill seems biochemically incapable of passing qualified judgement on an economic proposal of this magnitude and subtlety. Even after a degree in social sciences I didn’t want to touch that one. Although, on the general principle that anything you’re not willing to work hard for can’t really be important, I think the esteemed members of our legislature ought to stick with the 66% approval rating. Milling around trying to convince each other of things is what keeps them busy.
Prop 56 also includes this little gem of a provision: “[Prop 55] Prohibits a legislator from punishing or threatening to punish another legislator for a budget-related vote.”
My problem with this tidbit shares its origins with the warning on my roommate’s curling iron which reads “Do not insert into any orifice.” We can now infer that somewhere out there is a) a woman who apparently mistook her curling iron for a Q-tip, if not worse and b) a 70-year-old senator beating Leland Yee over the head with his walker and screaming “I told you to vote FOR the tax cuts you moron!” I find neither of these images salubrious to my faith in humankind.