ALPERN AT LARGE - With apologies to Jethro Tull, it’s amazing to see their chorus opposing right-wing “business as usual” and group-think now being so aptly applied to those on the left who dominate this state’s political elite, and who proclaim to be open-minded and progressive but are anything but.
It’s one thing to proclaim to be progressive about civil rights of minorities, women and homosexuals, but it’s another thing to use those issues to enshroud a hidden economic agenda that’s destroying the economic future, environment and even the quality of life of the average California—and to which the average Californian is either part of a political/economic rebellion or is forced to flee this state.
So let’s just focus on the economy (second only after public safety as the main responsibility of government), because there ARE political and social liberals who are fiscally conservative –or who can at least do budgetary math, and recognize that magic and money growing on trees simply do NOT exist.
After decades of accommodating the incrementalism of those who—whether they do this because they’re too far to the left or just incapable of growing up—keep demanding government be based off of how things “ought to be” and/or who can help their political fortunes, this budgetary math just can’t be ignored…unless, of course, one is as “thick as a brick”.
In trying to balance the budget, a wizened Governor Jerry Brown, the personification of a liberal Democrat if ever there was one, is fighting a Democratic state Legislature who still doesn’t “get it” that it’s BAD to have one-third of the country’s welfare recipients but only one-eight of its total population.
The Legislature is still resisting welfare reforms of the Clinton era that Brown is demanding they make in an effort to balance the budget.
It’s tough to tell those dependent on the hard work of others (and I mean those others who are hanging on by their fingertips and working multiple jobs just to take care of their own families’ needs) to get by with less—or even leave the state because some able-bodied adults have to be responsible for themselves. But the worst news of all this is that those who are TRULY disabled because of health-related disasters haven’t enough resources available to them.
Questions abound, despite their being ignored by the Sacramento left/connected who continue to whistle past the graveyard:
1) The question of whether modern-day liberalism chooses to hearken back to its earlier roots of being open-minded and self-reliant must now be answered by young and old alike.
Ex-governor Schwarzeneggar shed his conservative leanings to accommodate the “go along to get along”, but did it help our state? And after Schwarzenegger’s gimmicks and compromise completely failed, what is Governor Brown to do when he can rely only on the minority GOP to do the right thing with respect to welfare reform?
2) Perhaps we need some more radio ads about how CalFresh (food stamps to those of us with any sense of maturity and intelligence and memory) is now wonderfully available to the middle class…because the money for that is magically available, or should we reserve that aid to those who are truly going hungry?
2) Is it too little too late in getting the UC and Cal State systems to recognize that they OWE their existence to the taxpayers that paid for them?
Or shall we presume that the taxpayer isn’t paying enough, and that out-of-state or foreign students and illegal immigrant children are higher priorities than those families here (and paying taxes) for generations who are being priced out of a quality higher education?
4) While it must seem nice to have shoved the GOP—and, below the radar screen, moderate Democrats and independents to boot—out of this state (you know, the ones who built and who still pay for much of the operations of California), leaving only a far-left-wing echo chamber in Sacramento, is it correct to blame the existing GOP leadership for having little or no distinguishing message, or is it correct to blame the GOP for not compromising even more?
5) While we focus on the rights of minorities, and with increasing numbers of Jewish Americans tilting right as they find themselves increasingly attacked both politically and economically, are Asians who now “the New Wave, New Target” who are forced to re-evaluate who their friends really are because it is now their turn to be on the defensive and because they are “the new Jews”?
6) As even old-school-but-wizened liberals like George Skelton (who in many ways is similar to Jerry Brown in his political and economic perspective) decry Democratic legislators’ resistance to pension reform are there enough younger and savvy liberals who recognize that without prompt pension reform, the tax increase on this November’s ballot will fail?
7) Did the Sacramento Democratic leadership get the message that San Diego and San Jose passed pension reform, and that the voters turned down a ballot initiative to tax smokers (one of the more unsympathetic groups in this health-conscious state)?
Did they get the message that Stockton just filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy (probably an endeavor that will be closely watched by cities throughout the state) after poor spending and an inability to enact pension reform? So with the understanding that our state government CANNOT enter Chapter 9 bankruptcy, is it time to place pension reform as a state ballot initiative?
Or will Sacramento have to adhere to its thick-as-a-brick ways? To quote Jethro Tull:
“So you ride yourselves over the fields and … you make all your animal deals and … your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.”
And the final question: Which is thicker, the mindset of the Sacramento leadership or the brick that voters are about to throw this November if they vote down higher taxes and the hard/adult decision-making is forced to commence?
(Ken Alpern is a former Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co- Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.) –cw
Tags: Ken Alpern, Alpern at Large, Sacramento, State Assembly, California, budget, Governor Brown
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 52
Pub: June 29, 2012