No California Budget, No Government? Lost the Last Election? None Dare Call it Obstructionism

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The Orange County Register has an editorial today whose title says it all: "No budget better than bad budget".

It's a real doozy, but I wonder if it represents the real Republican Senators' (minus one) attitudes about this whole mess we are in. What's the big deal if there's no budget--who needs state government anyway? Republican State Senators are issuing press releases with nice statements that they really care about all those clinics that are not being paid, they really care about those less fortunate in our state, and they really want to protect the environment. They say they want action on global warming--and are actually citing language from AB 32, the landmark law passed last year to reduce greenhouse gases--that none of them voted for (and that they don't want enforced until 2012).

But strip away the varnish on this, and I wonder if this comment to one of our articles doesn't really reflect what's going on here:

"The only folks I hear whining about this are the parasitic folks on the gov't dole. I've never heard so many whiners in my life. Most of us don't give a damn, and would in fact hope that this continues. If 30% of California government employees were machine-gunned our state would continue to operate just fine (in fact, better)."

Tell that to another reader who wrote in a private email to me:

"I guess most people do not know what it is to live paycheck to paycheck. The little check would help out tremendously this month and the rich just set back and take their time. While you're eating steak we barely survive."

Or another reader:

"I am appointed by the courts and get paid as a state contractor. I continue working every day and fronting costs for my clients, but I have not been paid for six weeks. I said I could make it through August, but now I am not sure. I am a single mother of two. These white Republican men are so out of touch thinking that no one is really affected and life goes on whether they do their job or not. I don't have that luxury and I get angrier and angrier by the day!"