☆ Lawler: CA dream is in peril as taxes keep increasing
The state’s lavish handout regime comes at a cost -- ever increasing taxation that threatens the opportunity and prosperity that once made California attractive. So says former Monte Sereno Mayor Liz Lawler in an Opportunity Now exclusive comment for our ongoing election series: the tax-and-spend tyranny of Sacramento’s supermajority is matched only by voters’ willingness to endorse it.
When I think of California and Newsom in particular, the image of Mad King George III from School House Rock comes to mind. A tyrant and his peeps who seem to think they know better than anyone and don’t at all care about you.
The California that was - the one I was born and raised in - offered the California Dream: sunshine, opportunity, and a home, maybe with a pool. The California that IS - the one we live in today, offers a different dream, or rather nightmare of unfettered free handouts: needles and cash to the homeless, free healthcare and house down payments to undocumented migrants - who wouldn't want free stuff? The California that will be? We will know in November, or actually December.
Of course, this different California dream has led the state to the brink of fiscal insolvency, so what would King George do? Tax everything you own and then some. Cue Gavin Newsom and the Supermajority. They have indeed been busy in Sacramento.
In his defense, Newsom seems to be against the "billionaire" tax. However, the voters are poised to approve it. What does this mean for California?
It means the tax-and-spend policies of CA Democrats are still popular. It means people aren’t tired yet of unfair taxation.
The inconvenient truth is that our population and voting demographic has drastically changed in the last few decades from a problem-solving pragmatic electorate to an ideological one feigning moral superiority. Today’s majority voter favors government largesse, demonizes the successful, and doesn't seem to care about our schools.
In an environment where ideology has trumped pragmatism, and divisiveness has replaced cooperation, today’s moderate and more conservative leaning candidates are contending with a very different landscape. To reach voters means overcoming the stigma attached to being something "other" than a Democrat. A herculean task in a deep blue state.
The question is, how much longer will it take for voters to revolt and throw the proverbial tea into the harbor? And who will lead the way?
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