I usually don’t respond to what others have said here on the Flash Report, because usually no response is required, but as I was doing my morning reading (for me it is morning, since I am on the other side of the world right now, and yes, the Flash Report is the first thing I read when I wake up here).  I saw Jennifer Nelson’s comments, and I thought, I really understand the frustration.

In 1991, Pete Wilson raised taxes, and pushed legislators to do the same, basically saying what Ms. Nelson said–Democrats exploded spending in the 1980’s, and when George Deukmejian resisted, the Dems went out and passed Prop 98, which has literally destroyed any semblance of spending control since then.  Republicans were blamed for the tax increase.

Between 1998, in the midst of a then record increase in spending (from $43 billion general fund in the 1996-97 budget to $57 billion gf in the 1998-99 budget), Republicans pushed for and received a $4 billion car tax cut.  Spending in the next two budget cycles (1999-2000 and 2000-01) increased $22 billion, from $57 billion gf to $79 billion gf.  Guess who and what got blamed for the deficits of $11 billion when the budget collapsed in 2001-02?  That’s right, the $25 billion deficit was blamed on the Republicans and the $4 billion tax cut, and not the Democrats and the $22 billion spending increase.

In 2005, when the Governor proposed another $13 billion spending increase, then again in 2006, when the Governor proposed another $10 billion spending increase, I stood on the floor of the Assembly and warned that this budget collapse was coming, that spending was out of control, and that some day, in the next two to three years, the same Democrats who were now spending like drunken sailors on leave would cry and demand a tax increase and Republicans would say no.  I told my Republican colleagues privately in caucus that these increases were a mistake, and we should say no now, or they would face incredible pressure to increase taxes, and they wouldn’t like what would be happening to them.  I told them I wouldn’t have to worry, I was term limited out, but they would find the pressure on them to be tremendous.  Did anybody credit the majority of Republicans who voted against the spending increases for their wisdom is seeking to avoid this present debacle?

How about the 2007-08 budget stand off, where Senate Republicans stood valiantly together, attempting to obtain the $700 million in spending reductions that might have averted the 08-09 and 09-10 debacles?  Where were the the voices in the press and public lauding their stand?  Where are they now?  Is anyone crediting them for their prescience?  Two years ago, for 60 days these Senators stood tough, and suffered immense pressure, finally accepting a promise from the Governor to cut that $700 million (which he made a half-hearted effort to do) to avoid this collapse.  Villains then they were, and no one even remembers it today.

I guess all I am saying is that giving in to the Democrats, and then trying to blame them for the debacle created by their policies doesn’t work.  I understand the frustration of doing the right thing in the short term.  It doesn’t make you very popular, people think you are a jerk, they call you names, they don’t take the time to understand, and in many cases, your position is deliberately distorted by those in the media and those with a financial interest in the government largesse created by this ever burgeoning state government.  However, once you give in, you lose your right to criticize.

The right thing to do is do the right thing, no matter what the personal cost, no matter what people say about you, and no matter how difficult it may be.  There is no explaining doing the wrong thing, there is no one who will listen, and in the Republicans case, there will always be very large trumpets in the media who will claim that those Republicans who complain are hypocrites because they themselves voted for this tax increase.  It is difficult to oppose slavery if you are a slave owner, it is difficult to complain about tax increases, if you voted for them or advocated for them.

The consequences of doing the right thing in this budget cycle are dire indeed.  But the state will survive, it will be only as large as it was two years ago.  Yes some teachers may have to take a pay cut or get laid off, but what is happening right now in the private sector?  Yes some state employees may be furloughed or forced to take days off and suffer their pay to be cut.  But is that all that different from what is happening to your neighbor who just got laid off, or from your local business owner, whose business has lost a substantial amount of income in the last year?

Why is it that those in government think they are immune from the vagaries of a shrinking economy?  Why will they force on others a fate they themselves will not accept?  If auto workers, or construction workers, or secretaries, or mid-level managers in your local insurance company or bank or manufacturing company, or retailer are forced to see their pay cut, or their retirement reduced, their medical benefits reduced, or be furloughed or laid off, why should government workers, secretaries and mid-level management avoid that same fate?  What is so sacred about their jobs, their work, or their pay that politicians will not do to them what they would gladly do to other workers in the private sector.

Yes, it will be difficult.  Yes, in the short run, Republicans will be viewed as the bad guys, but just as parents who disciplined their children are hated by those children when they are teen agers, those same parents earn the long term gratitutde of their children when they get older, and the children realize how the tough choices their parents made helped them become better more productive adults.

I understand the frustration.  No one likes to unpopular at any time, and in politics, where unpopularity can be devastating, it is especially difficult.  But Republicans didn’t lose their majority in Congress cutting spending.  They lost their majority by sacrificing their core values to short term political power.  If Republicans in the Legislature do the same thing, they will suffer the same fate, and they will deserve that fate

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.