Churchill would understand this... Proposition 1A

Churchill once said "democracy is the worst of all governmental systems, until you consider all of the other alternatives." That is about the way I feel about 1A. In both sales taxes and income taxes California's taxes are already among the highest in the country. If you vote for this initiative it will continue those rates for a couple of extra years. The rainy day fund in the proposal is complicated and criticized as being ineffectual.

But the alternative - which both the Democrats and the Republicans supported is even less likable. Part of the budget mess in Sacramento is based on the general economic decline in the country. We need some time to think about alternatives for the long term. Part of that should come from the Tax Commission (created by the Speaker and the Governor and populated with some pretty good people) who I hope will take their job seriously - not looking for the narrow political fix but for some ideas about how the state should raise revenue that are less injurious of capital than the existing system (which has wild fluctuations based on how options and capital gains are going). I believe both political parties acted irresponsibly - the democrats because they reject any restrictions on spending and the republicans because they reject any change in taxes. Both are wrong.

If 1A is not adopted it is likely that the legislature (11% approval) and the Governor (slightly over 30% approval) will go into another self reinforcing set of feedback loops without addressing the issues that all Californians would like our elected leaders to deal with. If it does beat the odds, the politicians will have the opportunity for a very slight amount of breathing room to be able to begin to think about the long term. Thomas P.M. Barnett in his wonderful book Great Powers: America and the World After Bush makes the argument that some generations are better at entrepreneurship and others better at the machinations of government. The boomer's generation of politicians have pretty conclusively demonstrated that they were more adept at entrepreneurial pursuits. That is not an entirely thrilling conclusion for a boomer who has spent a good deal of his career working around politics but looking at both boomer presidents - it is not a hard conclusion to draw.

One wonders whether the voters are inclined to give the political establishment a bit of slack on this set of proposals. The most recent Survey USA poll suggests not. But the solution most imperfectly crafted gives a faint glimmer of hope that if they do we might bring the political process back from the way it's been to the way it should be.