It is oft said that if you want a glimpse of America’s future, look
to California. The home to Hollywood has led the way in national trends
from the first no-fault divorce law and the permissive Therapeutic
Abortion Act of 1967 (both were signed into law by Ronald Reagan) to the
great Proposition 13 property tax cut of 1978. It was California’s
populist tax revolt, stoked by then-former Governor Reagan, which
reframed the debate about the proper size of government and helped
propel Reagan to the presidency in 1980.
Today California offers a different vision of America’s future: high taxes, burgeoning government debt, crushing regulations, rapidly growing welfare rolls, soaring energy costs, and a heavy lawsuit burden have taken a grinding toll on the once-Golden State.
From 2004 to 2010, as a state assemblyman representing almost a half-million Californians, I had a front-row seat in what was to be California’s great comeback under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It wasn’t to be. Schwarzenegger was elected in an historic 2003 recall with the promise to “cut up the state’s credit card.” Not only did Schwarzenegger not rein in California’s spending, he presided over a growth in government spending and debt even more rapid than the torrid pace set by the Democrat he replaced, then capped it off with the largest state tax increase in U.S. history combined with a cap-and-trade law that could increase energy costs on the average California family of four by $9,330 per year by 2020 — equivalent to a 48 percent increase in state and local taxes.
California’s current governor, Jerry Brown, has two goals: a train and a tax.
Appropriately recycled into office, making him at once California’s oldest and youngest governor, Brown has gone all-in on a money-losing high-speed government train costing $65 billion the state doesn’t have. If it’s ever built — I co-authored the losing ballot argument against it — unemployed Californians will be able to ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles and pay twice as much as a Southwest Airlines ticket for the privilege of taking more than double the time to get there.
Today California offers a different vision of America’s future: high taxes, burgeoning government debt, crushing regulations, rapidly growing welfare rolls, soaring energy costs, and a heavy lawsuit burden have taken a grinding toll on the once-Golden State.
From 2004 to 2010, as a state assemblyman representing almost a half-million Californians, I had a front-row seat in what was to be California’s great comeback under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It wasn’t to be. Schwarzenegger was elected in an historic 2003 recall with the promise to “cut up the state’s credit card.” Not only did Schwarzenegger not rein in California’s spending, he presided over a growth in government spending and debt even more rapid than the torrid pace set by the Democrat he replaced, then capped it off with the largest state tax increase in U.S. history combined with a cap-and-trade law that could increase energy costs on the average California family of four by $9,330 per year by 2020 — equivalent to a 48 percent increase in state and local taxes.
California’s current governor, Jerry Brown, has two goals: a train and a tax.
Appropriately recycled into office, making him at once California’s oldest and youngest governor, Brown has gone all-in on a money-losing high-speed government train costing $65 billion the state doesn’t have. If it’s ever built — I co-authored the losing ballot argument against it — unemployed Californians will be able to ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles and pay twice as much as a Southwest Airlines ticket for the privilege of taking more than double the time to get there.
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