So now we know.

Now we know what kind of budget the Republicans in the California Legislature have in mind.

The most conservative Republicans in the state, the ones who occupy the state Senate (joined by the Assembly Republican leader), have finally shown us why they have been resisting the Democrats’ big, permanent tax increase proposal and the governor’s smaller, temporary one for the past two months.

Their answer: They want the state to borrow more.

The alternative budget the Republicans proposed last weekend does not balance. Even after including $1.6 billion in new cuts, they can’t balance the books. And they have acknowledged that the cuts required to bring the budget back into the black without raising taxes are cuts that even they would not make.

Instead, they propose taking a $2 billion advance on earnings from an expanded state lottery, borrowing from the future players, and losers, in the California lotto game.

The Republicans, to their credit, also finally listed all the spending cuts they do support. Many of these cuts were taken from an earlier proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, which the governor has since abandoned. A few were taken from recommendations published by the state’s legislative analyst. Some of them the Republicans came up with themselves.

A sample:

•Eliminate eligibility for thousands of poor people in the Medi-Cal health program.

•Cut grants to families on welfare by 5 percent.

•Deny cash grants to children in families on welfare when the adult in the family has not met work participation requirements.

•Reduce the state’s share of responsibility for wages paid to workers who care for the elderly and disabled in their homes. The proposal would also end domestic benefits such as housecleaning and meal preparation for homebound disabled people who are not the most critically in need.

•Reduce grants for aged, blind and disabled couples by $66 a month.

All together, the Republican plan would cut $1.6 billion from the governor’s latest proposal, which already was about $2 billion smaller than the one the Democrats had proposed.

But that would not be enough to make up for the $4 billion Schwarzenegger is counting on next year from a temporary one-cent increase in the sales tax. Yet rather than propose more spending cuts, the Republicans propose to borrow.

“We’ve done this in a way to defend the taxpayer and still be responsible,” Senate Minority Leader Dave Cogdill, R-Fresno, told reporters Sunday.

But over the long term, the Republican budget is actually less fiscally responsible than either Schwarzenegger’s plan or the one backed by the Legislature’s Democratic leaders.

It might be balanced, on paper, for one year. But that would be only with the help of the borrowed money. And the year after that, where Schwarzenegger’s plan would have another $4 billion from the sales tax increase, the Republican legislators’ proposal would have a huge hole. They would have to borrow more, or cut some more, and they’ve already indicated that they don’t have the stomach for that.

Actually, Schwarzenegger’s plan – relying on a temporary tax hike and $10 billion in accelerated lottery payments — also pushes the problem into the future. But it does work for at least two years longer than the Republicans’, giving the state’s economy three years to start growing again and giving the Legislature time to figure its way out of this mess.

The Democrats’ plan, with permanent tax increases on high-income earners and business, would probably keep the budget balanced the longest, at least until the next economic downturn.

The Democrats’ proposal would also spend more on education, health care and social services than either the Republican legislators’ proposal or the governor. It wouldn’t cut grants to welfare moms or the aged, blind and disabled. And it wouldn’t curtail benefits to elderly and disabled people who are confined to their homes.

I think Barr’s characterization of taker and leaver is illustrative and hope ‘leavers’ continue to raise their voices. As Archemedies said “Give me a long enough leaver and a place to stand and I will move the world.” Ok, thats not an exact quote and probably a misspelling but you get the joke.

From “impressed with addition of woman VP”
To “admiring McCain/Palin”
All the way to “jumping ship”

Quite a leap there, brother! I wonder what she actually said.

I’m impressed too. That doesn’t mean I’ll vote for Palin/McCain.

SMS

Guess who was impressed with the addition of a woman VP?

Even in California, a staunch Democrat, has admired the A-team. How many more will jump ship before November’s elections?

We may disagree on many issues (in particular, the role of government), but that was well written and reasonable. On principal, I agree with almost all of it.

Our disagreement is only on how we get there.

In the greater realm of things the Libertarian candidate has had no chance of winning or even affecting the debate, much less getting any media exposure at all. This cycle may have changed all that.

Bob Barr is a very real, capable, experienced, choice for those of us in the states that are already lost to the fast boat party. The Libertarian Party has finally fielded a candidate that is experienced in the legislative branch of the federal government. He meets the standards of someone who could actually do a decent job IF they could get elected and understands what’s needed in that position. Bravo to the Libertarians! I hope they can do it again the next cycle too. It may take a few election cycles before they can gain enough traction to actually get the debate turned around.

While I know that my choice to speak out on this will generate negative responses and I will pay a price for it, it needs to be said. The party of Lincoln, the party of small government has lost its way. It has become socialist light, not what it should or could be. It has made some very bad choices in the past and seemingly hasn’t looked in the mirror for a very long time. Ron Paul being that exception this time around for the slow boats, but sadly Ron has some very serious and unsavory baggage he hauls with him everywhere too.

My greatest fear is that as a nation, we have lost the stomach to be good Americans. We are too lazy, too self absorbed, too busy, too irresponsible, too focused on short term gains to view the long game and make too many excuses to be good Americans. By that I mean we have lost the desire and ability to be reasonable responsible individuals. We must, if we wish to retain our nation of freedom resolve that we are each responsible for our actions, good and bad. Pay the debts we owe both financial and personal. That is when signing a contract we are personally responsible for understanding it, and paying that debt to the best of our abilities, not taking the easy way out. As well if we screw up socially we take responsibility for that too. Learn that it takes more guts to apologize and admit our mistakes, learn and move forward. We also need to learn to forgive, really forgive someone for being human and making mistakes.

Sadly we as a social group have not learned very much from history and we a distended to make the same mistakes of the past, unless by some miracle we wake from our long drunken slumber and take control of our own lives. We cannot move forward in the great experiment called liberty unless we do. This issue is far greater than one election, however the pendulum needs to be pushed in the direction of personal freedom, not greater socialism.