Political Delusions

Dan Walters wrote a great column today in the Sacramento Bee. In it he argues that politicians, by making the budget mess look like a life and death situation are "merely feed(ing) their own egos and mak(ing) it that much more difficult to act." The conservatives argue that any change in taxes will harm the economy while democrats argue that any reduction in programs will degrade the social fabric of the state. Of course, both conclusions are false.

California needs to solve the budget mess both in the short term and the longer one. As Californians we need to have some fundamental discussions about what we should provide in the public sector and how we should pay for what we want to provide. There is some evidence that our tax system is out of whack and that some of the regulatory decisions we have made in the last 20 years have slowed economic growth. At the same time the state has accommodated a large number of new people which adds complexity to what we want to accomplish. But the immediate need is to balance the budget. Then we can begin to think about the longer term mix of revenues and expenditures that will define who we are and what we want to become. But if the narcissistic egos of both sides intervene, neither the short term nor the longer solutions will be possible. Dan's perspective is helpful in looking at what is really at stake. Note, it is not the egos of the politicians. No matter what they think, the very big problems are not immediate issues of life and death.