California on the Brink - Toppling into the Financial Sea

The elected Representatives and executive of the State of California find themselves in a quandary of confusion, with negotiations over budget woes at an impasse so far. It is unfortunate that the whole needs of the people are in conflict with the particular desires of the politician and political parties; not to mention the lobbyist, special interests, bureaucrats and pork.

Some officials are up in arms over this, while many others shrug it off as business as usual; still while others hunker down and want to hold their position. One must ask, is this the way the State is supposed to run, where the wants of the proposed budget outweigh the needs and Rights of the people? At least it is my own belief that we have made the State superior to the people and the people subservient to it by way of public servants and officials who believe their job is to run the State and not to serve the people; though they believe they are doing the righteous thing by rationalizing the goodness and the need for what actions they take.

But the problem falls with the overall economic situation run amok. On the one hand the people are being burdened by rising costs and taxes; and I can find no law or statute that permits State taxes on wages; furthermore the State officials cannot supply me with one or refuse to do so. Likewise, the word "income" as used in the tax laws has no legal definition, which is unusual; and even the State Disclosure Office says that filing a return is "voluntary." Of course, the Franchise Tax Board - a department once set up under the Agriculture Department to tax farm product and other Franchises - has elevated its authority through political osmosis to tax individual wages earned in the course of a regular employee/employer relationship, which is a Direct Tax supposed to be applied only by the Federal Government on the basis of "enumeration" or the "census." This whole system makes little sense, sort of like burning the candle at both ends, albeit apparently illegal. And now the People of the State, having allowed expenses to rise out of control, find themselves in the financial quandary of, "where's the money going to come from," or, "we're just tapped out."

It appears that the great majority of the representatives of the people are captured by their own egos in this process. Just imagine how wonderful you could feel in a material society such as ours, if you had the power to toss large sums of money around and were hounded day and night as if you were someone really important. Under such circumstances it is easy to lose contact with what really makes humans worth while, which has nothing to do with laws, or material things. It was once stated, 'If you exalt yourself because of your possession and riches, your importance and position, then the earth, under which your feet trod, is far superior because it supplies you with everything you possess, even your life.'

Under these so-called Constitutional budget laws of the State, the legislature has gone home to 'think it over,' (I suppose), but they are taking time off against their own rules and have not operated by State law where the budget is concerned; and we can't give them a ticket! What an outrageous condition. We must abide by the law, but they don't have to. We are all still waiting for California to be returned to the people. Come-on, everyone, I am 66 and I would like to be around to see it happen!

What our State executive and elected officials need is a good dose of real selflessness and humility. Each of them should go down to "skid row" and live amongst the homeless for a week - and leave their credit cards at home. Each one should go and live with the average working family and find out what it's like to survive in this attitude. They should come and sit in our partly painted rooms (because we don't have the money to finish the painting yet); they should come and sit on our older furniture; they should get off their butts and come and mow our lawns; they should come and accomplish all of our home repairs like we must do; they should partially pay our utility bills because we can't pay it all at one time; they should put only $20 worth of gas in their car because that's all we can afford at a time; they should only go to the movies about 4 times or less a year, or go out to eat, say about 8 times or less a year - and then only for inexpensive meals, no New York steaks or the like; they should have to subside with a refrigerator almost empty, no sodas, only tea, and just enough to get by; they should wash and iron their own clothes and put them all away in a drawer; they should have to bathe in cracked tile showers, or lack-luster tubs that are too short, live in a house with no air conditioning, or an old water heater; their patio should be half loaded with junk they are saving for a rainy day; and the tree in their back yard that fell down should be lying there to rot, while their clothes line is leaning over due to its age; or their fence is falling apart and they can't afford to fix it. And add to this many more things that us working folks suffer from every day, like not having the money to fix our cars or properly maintain them - and all of this because of the outrageous plundering of the one main human resource we have a Right to, the Right to live and to work!

Now I am going to go out and bang my head against the wall some more. At least then, I will feel I have accomplished something! But let me leave you with this: I have been informed, after a lengthy investigation by caring individuals, that not one of our elected State Legislature members has taken the oath of office according to law; of course this does not surprise me. But if that is the case, then what force does their edict have? One might give that some thought as well.