GOP Meltdown Watch

California got into this fix through ballot propositions, can't they get out of it through ballot propositions?

Limbaughs. Make it fail, then blame the other guy.

Perhaps rather than insult lemmings and Neanderthals, it would be better just to compare them with Congressional Republicans.

Honestly. I voted with the Republican party, for years, but the past decade and I half I have no idea who these people are who call themselves Republicans. They're mean and selfish people who will resort to the lowest tactics to win, then in office will do all they can to look out for themselves and their close friends. This isn't the GOP of my earlier years or of my father. They are a cruel lot who set government up for failure, loot treasuries for their mates and then pin the blame on the Democrats when things to tits up, screaming 'Tax and spend!' and 'Liberal'. I can plainly see the New GOP has no vision and no clues. People need to rise up and vote them out of office.

This strikes me as the endgame for the "starving the beast" strategy - it appears the republicans really do beleive everyone will be better off if the government shuts down. It may be awful, but maybe it's better to have it happen to California first before they can inflict the same damage on the federal government. Sort of an "unleash the beast" strategy - let the real effects of this moronic position play out so we can shut it down once and for all. Pity it will cause so much suffering in the process, but I'm not sure how else you get these crazies out of office.

Paramecia and amoebas?

I agree with felixcannonball, if these guys are so adamantly opposed to raising taxes and staunchly in favor of cutting spending, let the Governor order CHiPs not to patrol in these guys' district. When a forest fire starts there, tough luck! How about firing state employees only from these districts. Pretty harsh on everybody given the fact that possibly 40% of electors voted against these morons in their districts, but we are getting to a point where someone has to lead and the rest can either follow or become a roadkill.

Not sure everyone is getting just how asinine and how difficult a corner Californians have painted themselves into by their successive ballot initiatives. These GOP legislators who are thwarting every attempt to prevent the apocalypse have already been so marginalized by voters that they are BARELY OVER A THIRD OF THE LEGISLATURE. You'll hardly find any remotely two-party states in the US where the minority party is smaller. YET THEY'RE ABLE TO COMPLETELY DESTROY THE STATE'S FINANCIAL SYSTEM, and so far no means has been found to prevent this. And to make it all the sweeter, this catastrophe is the more or less foreseeable outcome of a long succession of voter-approved initiatives over the last 30 years, each appealing to voters' very short-term, very UNenlightened self-interest, all pointing in the same direction and all irreversible. It represents a definitive demonstration that the voter initiative and referendum, in our society, is nothing more than a tool for mass suicide.

> So what do we compare them to now? Mindless robots programmed by Rush Limbaugh. This is the entirety of their programming: if (proposal.contains(:tax_increase)) { vote(:nay) }

Boycott Republicans!

Yes, Barry, some of us have read and analyzed the budget. The largest growth areas over the past twenty years are in Criminal Justice, and Health. The former is driven by mandatory sentencing initiatives, "three-strikes" and drug arrests. It is now about 13% of the budget, a doubling over the last couple of decades. Health care is, of course, driven by the rising costs of health care overall. It has risen from 16% of the budget to 22% of the budget. Most of health care seems to be in direct payments to needy, not something that drives up staff disproportionately in government itself. Also, the various propositions, as well as polling, shows that people actually do want more spending.