I could not agree more with turtle and rnen. Yes California is a progressive state but people should not confuse progressive with unsustainable spending. A state can have progressive moral standards AND operate within a proper budget.
However to make a blanket policy that we will operate a state in an insolvent manner (which is what we have been doing for a long long time) is ridiculous.
sdengineer have you been to Texas? I guess it is very easy to sit back and insinuate that Texas is not progressive but the state runs within budget, and has a public school system that is of MUCH higher quality then California, and is a quantumly better state with regards to operating a business there. It has no state income tax either. It also shares a border with Mexico as well and it is not immune from illegal immigration yet they seem to cope with it alot better then California.
At first glance it is hard to quantify why Texas can operate successfully but California cannot. However looking under the hood it is easy to see that the state legislature adheres to the budget they establish annually. Furthermore there is no stranglehold on the legislature by the unions.
So if people think that increasing spending and increasing taxes in a perpetual upward spiral is the way to go then so be it. In reality though it is essentially unsustainable and in the long run only leads to higher levels on inequity and subsidizations.
