Unserious Debate, Unserious State

Steven Greenhut: Listening to the gubernatorial debate tonight was a painful experience. It’s more of the same. Whitman believes in pension reform but with a large enough loophole (public safety) to render the whole exercise pointless. Jerry Brown claims he will stand up to the unions even though they are bankrolling his campaign. Whitman prattled about her CEO experience and Brown talked about the great influence of the California Teachers Association, the group that has almost single-handedly destroyed public education in this state. Whitman tried to give a straight answer on why she supports suspending global-warming rules for a year yet supports those rules in principle and therefore opposes an initiative that would suspend them. She offered an unintelligible explanation under the guise of offering her straightforward viewpoint. Brown wants high capital gains taxes and rails against the wealthy and believes that somehow plenty of jobs will be created by subsidizing the green economy. Whitman talks persuasively about keeping taxes and regulations low then champions her specific plans which amount to nothing more than vague generalities that will never get through a left-wing Legislature. Whitman tried to position the Brown camp’s use of the w-word (whore) as an affront to all women. She is such a victim! Yuck.

A friend of mine wondered why we aren’t getting the candidates we deserve. But Californians are getting exactly what we deserve — the choice between a kooky old union hack who helped create the current mess with past policies and a Chamber of Commerce Chatty Cathy doll that regurgitates banalities after you pull the string. This is what Californians deserve. Come on, our voters threw out a genuine bum (Gray Davis), then turned on his replacement after he tried to genuinely fix the problem. He then turned on us by abandoning reform in a vain pursuit of popularity. Californians don’t like the fiscal mess we’re in, but we created it. California voters love big government and won’t consider the kind of market reforms that are needed to turn California into an entrepreneurial haven. California is an advanced social welfare state where the unions call the shots and anyone who has a clue, such as Tom McClintock, cannot possibly win statewide election. The state is declining rapidly and markedly. Greece is not an unreasonable comparison. Even a good candidate could not implement reforms in the current political climate here and certainly not until the state’s residents undergo a paradigm shift.

Two choices: put up with it and enjoy the weather and the beaches and hope the economy is resilient enough to lumber along until we die. Or move — but keep in mind that the same things that ail California ail the other states also, although not to the same degree. Can you really bear watching it happen all over again in some other less desirable state? Do you really want to shovel snow or live someplace where people say, “Y’all” and enjoy NASCAR races?

Bottom line: You’re not going anywhere and it makes no difference who becomes the next governor.

OCT. 12