I got a thoughtful e-mail recently from Steve Natoli, who teaches history at the College of the Sequoias. He's really ruffled up over the baloney being continually served up by our politicians. Here is his request that the voters be offered a little honesty on the menu.
We are still waiting for some real honesty from politicians from both parties about budgets. The fact is there are hard choices ahead, and despite a little better candor this election year the headliners are still not fully levelling with the American people about the difficulties these choices present.
Here in California there is a projected $16 billion deficit for a $110 billion budget. Governor Schwarzenegger and the Republican minorities in the Senate and Assembly tell the Republican base what it wants to hear. There is no way they will allow taxes to be raised. The Democratic majorities in both houses tell their base what it wants to hear, too. All programs will be fully funded. Neither of these promises can be kept, and they all know it.
There is not enough discretionary spending to cut $16 billion out of the budget. To do that means people would have to be OK with emergency response times of four hours, having 50 kids in a classroom, closing most of the state park system and not resurfacing the roads for twenty years at a time. People will not be OK with that and the Republicans know it.Similarly, there is no way to fully fund all projects, increase public employee pay and benefits and provide the customary level of services without tax increases most Californians would consider ruinous.
The situation calls for compromise. There have to be some tax increases. There have to be some program cuts. Yet up to now the politicians have been more afraid of antagonizing their most vehement partisans than they have been resolute in doing what the state needs done. Former Governor Gray Davis was recalled when the deficit reached $7 billion. Schwarzenegger and the legislature have done even worse since. Where is the courage?
Things are little better on the national stage. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama justifiably assail President Bush and the Republican majority congress (2001-2007) for its fiscal lunacy. Yet they promise universal health care, to fully fund Social Security and Medicare, massive new programs for energy development, education, medical research and infrastructure restoration and promise to do all this without raising taxes on anyone but those making over $200,000 or $250,000 a year. It doesn't add up. They and their advisors know this. Where is the courage?
John McCain is no better. He promises to erase a $450 billion federal deficit with cuts alone. There will be no tax increases in a McCain Administration; in fact he proffers even more tax reductions. He says he will go after earmarks with a vengeance. They are, however, just $18 billion a year, and some of them are actually necessary. There are some bridges, highways and post offices that really do need to be built, for example. To his credit, he has mentioned ethanol and sugar subsidies too, but even then his numbers also do not come close to adding up either. That is particularly true given his inflexible position on the $150 billion dollar a year gorilla in the budgetary living room, the Iraq War. He and his advisors know they cannot pare enough to balance a budget while cutting taxes and paying for a war, yet they stick to that story. Where is the courage?
It is well past high time for the leaders of both parties to come clean with the American people and, in a joint press conference, deliver some real "straight talk" to the people they are elected to serve. Their magic pony platforms promise what they cannot deliver and the national financial structure cannot bear the stress much longer. The signs grow more apparent all the time, including the subprime meltdown, the fall of the dollar and the surge in personal bankruptcies. Some things are more important than getting elected. At least we have to hope there are those in politics who still believe that, or at least that more citizens will demand some credible proposals from them.
If the electorate wants honesty and courage, we need to look at ourselves, too. And stop voting for candidates who pander to us, and against those who don't. Any candidate for office knows the surest way to lose an election these days is to be honest with the voters. Even a little bit of honesty will get you smacked, as Obama is getting over the silly gas tax "holiday" idea.
In some regards I disagree with Mr. Natoli. Not every proposal is a "zero sum" situation, and he seems to be ignoring a couple of elephants in the room - prison spending on the state level, and defense spending on the national level. But otherwise I second his call for honesty and courage.
...so many elephnts,...such a small room. Well said Mickey D.
Good comments. Mike, you must not have gotten the whole blog. Click on the "permalink" feature and the rest of it may come up, including a concluding plea for the public's responsibility to resist the pandering and another on the Iraq expenses.
You are absolutely right on these.
See also an entry on my blog site that seconds your point about the inane gas tax holiday idea. Go to bravegnuwhirled.blogspot.com/2008/04/pandering-on-oil.html
So you guys think the taxpayers are not paying enough on any level(state or federal)? How much of Steve's pay is benefits paid for by taxpayers. Are he and other public employees ready to sacrifice pay or benefits to help out or just folks like myself who see tax increases as another pay cut as we try to fund our own retirement and health care.Has COS brainstormed to see how they could save the state money? The monies spent on the war on terror is necessary to ensure personal and financial freedom. Without this the rest is a mute point a.k.a. baloney.
Brian, not a dime spent on Iraq had anything whatsoever to do with our personal or financial freedom. That much should be pretty obvious by now. You don't like paying taxes for education here in the U.S., but you don't seem to mind pouring literally trillions of dollars down a rathole in Iraq.
I hear you loud and clear, Brian. To answer your question, ALL of my salary comes from the hardworking taxpayers of California. I'm one too, of course. Nobody goes into teaching to get rich, and we are mindful of our brother and sister workers in this rough economy. We just settled our contract without a raise because we know money is tight this year. As an economy move, my division has not replaced two retirees for two years, taking on more classes ourselves and hiring part-time instructors to take up the slack. Full-time teachers are better for the students, but we realize we must do our part to save money for the school and pitch in when times are tough.
When bombs start going off in the U.S. maybe you'll realize it Mike(D).You surely were aware of the financial effect of 9/11 and the security measures brought forth. The terrorists are already here but the majority are busy in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN because of our effort there.We were told it would be long and difficult because of the nature of the enemy.President Bush told us that from the beginning and it seems that your side has all but forgot that and the fact that we did not start this... it is just that the current administration had the stones to finally confront this evil.Wring your hands over the small pictures if you so choose but what are you, Mr.Natoli, academia and the public employees willing to sacrifice?Anything?The three tenors meanwhile are all so incompetent as leaders and decision makers that they will sing anything to pick up a few points in the polls.
The bombs already fell on the U.S., Brian (in the form of planes) - on GWB's watch. And none of the bombers were from Iraq. If Iraq is a terrorist hot-spot now, it's because of the chaos we created. But all this is already well-known to anyone able to see past the right-wing propaganda.
getting back to the question of honesty, (or the lack of),in politicians, Clinton may be padding her resume by including 8 years in the white house, unless she's willing to take credit for murdering hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children under the age of 5, by way of sanctions. Will she, like the Mad Albright,(former sec. state,) say, "on balance,it was worth it"?...i dont recall her speaking out against it...that rather flies in the face of her persona of, "children's advocate".
...hey Brian, confront THIS evil...the siege of Fallujah...we tell them we're going to destroy there town on the banks of the Euphrates, where it had been since B.C....but because America is "humanitarian" all the women and children can leave first, no place to go,mind you, just not-dead...who does that?...think old testament-lite, w/a yellow ribbon for the suicide-prone vets.