SHORT COMMUNICATION 255
Fix These Problems
By
Roger Behra
There are three existing situations in the state of California (Golden State) that are going on simultaneously. All three are depressing and have a direct effect on the quality of the future condition of the state in general. And sadly to relate two of the depressing existing situations are the result of the same reason: union control and voter stupidity. Both must come to screeching halt immediately.
Once upon a time California was the envy of all other states. All the good things were happening in the California culture: job availability; outstanding schools and universities; ideal climate year around; great roads and highways, great leisure activities. As the year 2011 begins it is quite evident that all that is left is the ideal climate, something that unions and voters have no control over. California’s best years are behind it, and if a complete turn away from union control is not implicated in 2011, the union greed that stops at nothing in order to feather their nests will continue.
At the present time in California’s history it`s schools are among the most dysfunctional in the nation, and California does not know how to change direction. It thinks lack of money is the problem, which is not the case. Good money is being thrown after bad with the same dysfunctional results. It started the school’s decline when the U.S. Government got involved with its money and all the hard to implement rules and regulations that the government forced on the schools. That is not going to change.
Along with union control of the state and schools there is the realization that now California is bankrupt. It has happened because of unions controlling the politicians in Sacramento for a long, long time. As a result California is 25 billion in red ink. Then, in 2010 the voters voted into office again the same governor, Jerry Brown, who was governor twenty years ago when all this bankruptcy started and the love affair with the unions. Now, as Brown tries to solve the budget problem, he’s bending over backwards to do so without excluding the same unions, as a result he’s up against a brick wall.
The California voters have not learned any lessons from pat experiences. They looked the other way in November, 2010 when they voted for a new governor. They really didn´t get a new one. He was California’s governor in the 1970´s when the present budget problem began. The voters forgot that a skunk does not change its color. Jerry Brown was the union’s a best friend. Now, as a result the game in Sacramento is going to be rigged in favor of the same old union control. They swing a powerful bat. Therefore, options to fix the budget and bankruptcy are going to be very few, indeed. The voters voted for the same old, and what the voters are going to get is more of the same old. The Golden State once was golden for several outstanding reasons and the envy of the whole nation. Now, it’s golden luster is badly tarnished, and the state is considered a Has-Been State to avoid if at all possible. It has one foot in the political and economic grave and the other foot squarely on a banana peel.
R. B.
4-12-11