Herndon Davis posted yesterday about some of the major budget problems California is facing right now. Obviously, I'm not the best source on this topic, but can I just throw out there that of course no one wants to increase taxes or reduce spending on government projects. Everyone likes to get something for nothing. But if we want to live in a society with a functional government and a decent quality of life, we're going to have to cough up some money in taxes to pay for it. That concept should be a be a basic civics lesson for every American if we continue to insist that everyone should have the right to vote.

Anyway, I did feel the need to point out that the state that was once so proud of telling the rest of the country how much more evolved than the rest of us it was (As goes California...) is now paralyzed in the grips of rightwing anti-tax rhetoric.

Part of the problem is the fact that it takes a two-thirds majority of the legislature to pass any tax increase in that state, and Republicans who won't vote for any tax increase still manage to keep one-third of the state legislature. Coupled with the facts that they capped property taxes at 1978 rates, never met a corporate or high income tax break they didn't like, their inability to lobby for federal tax dollars, they were hit harder than most states by the housing bubble burst, and so much of their tax revenue had to be tied to income, which isn't all that recession-proof, they have to cut many essential programs.

The irony, I'm sure, isn't lost on the state's LGBT population, that just found out a few weeks ago that only a 50% majority is required to take away what was defined as a "fundamental right" from any group of citizens they want to. Taken with the other rights and protections that have been removed through the ballot process, I hope that the nation doesn't go the way of California, at least for now.

Even when the Democrats are nominally in power, it seems that conservatives still rule the day. If only the American left had such a blind lust for power.