It is silly season again. The mailboxes bulge with junk mail.
The airwaves burn with flame wars. Read on for the view from the
Extreme Right. In this week’s installment: propositions and
measures.
It is silly season again. The mailboxes bulge with junk mail. The airwaves burn with flame wars. Read on for the view from the Extreme Right. In this week’s installment: propositions and measures.
n 1A. Transportation Funding Protection. No. We already passed Prop 44, which says that the legislature can only borrow from transportation funds with a two-thirds vote and the governor’s signature, and must pay back the funds with interest. They should be allowed to continue this kind of juggling as necessary (and we should elect fiscal conservatives to spend our money frugally and wisely.)
n 1B, C, D, and E. Bond Propositions. No, No, No, and No. These bond acts would borrow $37.25 billion, which we would have to pay back with interest over the next 30 years, entailing $74 in taxes. If these projects are worth doing, we should do them out of the general fund.
n 83 Sex Offenders. Yes. This would increase penalties for violent and habitual sex offenders, restrict them from living near parks and schools, and require them to wear GPS locaters. In fairness, there are two legitimate reasons to vote no. Sex offenders might move into rural areas, where law enforcement is stretched thin. And the GPS requirement could conceivably be extended to non-violent non-sex offenders: to ex-political prisoners, for example.
n 84 Water and Parks Bond. No. See props 1B – E, above. Also, in general, I object when our governments spend general fund on things we would not authorize, then come whining to us about water and schools and parks and fire fighters: the things that really matter.
n 85 Parental Notification of Abortion. Yes. This proposition requires that parents of a minor child be notified before anyone performs an abortion on their daughter. A waiver can be obtained for the girl whose parents are abusive.
Best of all, there are reporting requirements. At present, a 13-year-old can be knocked up by her 25-year-old “boyfriend,” get an abortion without her parent’s knowledge, and go on being abused by the predator. The anti-85 crowd points out that occasionally girls are sexually abused by their parents. 85 would protect those girls, too, with mandated reporting and notification of child protective services.
n 86 Tax on Cigarettes. No. If we really want to penalize tobacco addicts for the crime of their addiction, why not just require them to wear a robe, ring a bell and shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” Smoking is a filthy habit and I cannot imagine why anyone would start it, but I also think it horribly unfair to require tobacco addicts to pay for everyone’s emergency room services.
n 87 Oil Tax. No. Last time I drove cross country, I noticed that California’s gas is more expensive than practically every other state’s. That is because California’s gas tax is higher than practically every other state’s. Gas is too expensive already.
n 88. School Parcel Tax. No. This one is really sneaky: new taxes in California require a two-thirds majority, and when a tax is really, really necessary, the voters pass it. But this one is being snuck in as a “statewide local” parcel tax. (Note the oxymoron.) Furthermore, a glance at the list of programs reveals that the proposition merely throws more money at the existing programs in public education, without so much as a theory of what the problem is. For example, we currently spend $123 per student on safety programs. This will add $16 per student to those same safety programs.
n 89 Campaign Limits. No. This proposition taxes business, including small businesses, and uses the tax dollars to pay for junk mail and TV ads. It interferes with the constitutional free speech rights of small businesses and grass-roots political groups.
n 90 Government Acquisition and Regulation of Private Property. Yes. It will prohibit governments from seizing private land for “more worthy” private purposes. It will also make local governments pay for any future burdensome regulations over what people can do with their own property.
n Measure A No. Bunch of city folk telling country folk what they can’t do with their own property, including spoiling the view for the city folk. Possibly the most selfish measure I have ever seen … and I live downtown.
