Journal Bill Dog's Journal: And I thought Florida voters were stupid 5

The problem:

California has a legislature that has had both houses dominated by Democrats since at least 1996. And districts have been gerrymandered such that of the 150-some seats up for re-election last, not a single incumbent was displaced (!), according to Morton Kondracke, a moderate Democrat political commentator.

Meanwhile the median housing price in this state is over $500K, due to low interest rates there's been a flurry of home purchases, including people upgrading to larger homes, who then lose their Proposition 13 property tax rate hike protection on the home they've sold, since when you buy a house you're assessed at the market rate then. And I pay almost 2% in property taxes. I.e. money is just flowing into the state's coffers at what must be an enormous pace, and yet, it's not enough, it's never enough, because the legislature is still spending it faster than it comes in.

So along comes Republican Governer Arnold Schwarzenegger. He campaigns on reforming this state. He says he'll press the legislature to cooperate, or he'll take it to the people through our active ballot initiative process. What a fool. This is a very blue state. Everyone in this state knows that we can't keep going on forever doing what we're doing. It's not only unwise, it's unsustainable. I.e. some day it will be impossible, when the state's bond rating is Junk-minus.

Of course the Democrat legislature doesn't want to face reality, so he puts a bunch of propositions on the ballot, and of course they all fail:

Prop 74 - Would have increased public school teacher tenure waiting period from 2 to 5 years, and made it easier (i.e. less impossible) to dismiss teachers with consistently poor performance evaluations. Isn't that terrible, making teachers more accountable and having to wait a bit longer for something no one else on Earth gets (as a programmer, I sure wish I could have a job for life).

Prop 75 - Would have prevented public employee unions from using members' dues for political purposes without their consent. I think this one completely speaks for itself. Even the extreme left leaning Los Angeles Times endorsed this.

Prop 76 - Would have limited state spending, changed the minimum funding guarantee for schools, and allowed the governor to cut some spending under extenuating circumstances. The problem is we have certain minimum funding increase levels locked-in for certain things such as schools. Schools funding gets increases based on growth in state revenues in the good years, and they get increases based on attendance in the bad years! They can't lose! They're completely immune to the economic realities of upturns and downturns. But during a downturn if your entitlements still have locked-in increases, you either have to close the police department or go into major debt, because you're only left with so much wiggle room. Do Californians see this? I think so. But like a drug addict, we know we can't go on like this forever, we know it's not good for us, we know it's killing us, but we just can't resist.

Prop 77 - Would have had a panel of retired judges redistrict the state and then submission of the plan to the voters for approval, or disapproval (in which case they'd have to go back and try again for something perceived more fair). Why would Californians want this? They like their Democrat representatives. (To be fair, evidently most like their Republican representatives too, but that doesn't do anything to break the Democrat majority stranglehold and it's spending spree.)

Finally, just to show how reasonable Californians are, they also voted down a 48-hour waiting period (with medical exceptions) and parental notification (notification, not permission) before a minor gets an abortion.