By the way Phil, thanks for the essay. Well stated and well researched as usual.
You are a great deal younger than I, and as a man with a family still living in California you can see on a day to day basis what the policies of GOP rule have done.
Where the GOP has constantly criticized Jerry Brown, one can look at the performances of George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, and finally Arnold Swarzenegger and what those Governors in essence have done to the State of California.
I moved from California to New Mexico.
On Friday Phil, I payed $3.38 cents per gallon for regular gasoline in New Mexico. Under the taxation system in California Phil I know that some people might like to hear what youi guys are paying and if the GOP cared about taxation they could certainly fool me by the fact that their actions never match their words.
Like you Phil, I lived in California for most of my life. I watched Arnold Swarzenegger pander to large utility companies when he completely failed to bring California in line with regards to solar energy.
For those not in the know on this, in most States, if you elect to install solar panels, and you generate more than you use, the utility company must pay you for that power meaning you get either a check or a credit against your electric bill. In California, this is not the case. In that fair state, you can generate as much as you want and the most you can do is to zero out a power bill. Utilities take the rest as a "gift" from you, and do not have to pay you one dime for that power.
Just West of Palm Springs, California, is an area called "Whitewater", and it is this area where huge wind farms have been set up and developed. The greatest beneficiary of these wind farms has been Southern California Edison. At the same time, all of the power is taken by Edison. Edison classifies this power as "experimental" and as a result the people of the Coachella Valley still pay among the highest electric rates in the Country. Sonnenbleck and several other manufacturers of the wind turbine generators have profited greatly from this array, as an industry again corporations have made money. The people of the Coachella Valley under Edison however are paying electric bills that are outrageous.
After the windfall given utility companies by former GOP California Governor Pete Wilson, Phil in San Diego is paying through the nose for his electricity, even though it was the same GOP hardliners that said the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station would cut electric rates. As Phil can attest, he is getting the proctologist and a full colonoscopy on this one from San Diego Gas and Electric or whatever power company he is under.
I left California when it became obvious that by 2025 it was going to cost me about $5,000 per month to have a poverty level standard of living in retirement there.
Historically, Phil and I both can tell you that the GOP historically tries to get smaller versions of things passed in California before trying to get them on a national level. We can both also tell you that the State of California is a total mess because of it.
Phil and I both have watched DMV offices stripped of employees. The State of California has cut budgets for services again and again. The last time I was in the Palm Springs DMV office, I was there nearly 8 hours trying to get some paperwork completed.
An office designed for 60 people and designed with incredible speed and accuracy had been cut to a total staff of less than a dozen because of the GOP and their short sighted thinking. For a time, there was some talk among some GOP members in that State of "privatizing" the DMV.
These days, Southern California is I am sad to say not a very pleasant place to go, to live, or to visit. The cost of living there, or even visiting there is now very high when compared against many other places in the country, and most of this is based on policies enacted under GOP administrations.
Those not living in areas badly debilitated by decisions made by GOP politicians are doing better, and don't feel the pinch as much.
Those living in California are right now paying through the nose for nearly everything.
While claiming to be against taxation and chanting their "mantra" as if it were going to get them something, all we hear is: "tax and spend liberals, tax and spend liberals, tax and spend liberals" while at the same time those living under this and watching the real outcome of what the GOP has done in California and nationwide see things differently. Phil is still in the trenches trying to figure out how to make his paycheck stretch farther and farther each month as rising costs and a frozen salary slowly reduce his and his families standard of living.
The same type of "Marie Antoinette" thinking on the "let 'em eat cake" front and the same "out of touch, substitution reality" that most of these GOP folks have these days are not only not going to fix, they will make it far worse for the many while profiting the few greatly.