Terminate the Terminator?

In 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governor of California in a recall election precipitated by the state's $16.5 billion budget deficit. Under Schwarzenegger's governorship, the state has lowered taxes while raising spending. Until recently, this policy seemed viable, largely due to California's real estate bubble.

But, in case you haven't heard, that bubble has burst. Big time. We now live in the post-subprime era.

The result? California's economy is being pummeled and state government revenues are drying up faster than the lips of a Hollywood starlet driving a convertible down I-5. Governor Schwarzenegger recently declared a "fiscal emergency" due to the projected $14.5 billion shortfall in the 2008 budget.

Schwarzenegger's proposed solutions to the crisis have been predictable. Predictable, that is, if you remember that he's what used to be called a Rockefeller Republican: socially moderate but fiscally very conservative. Unfortunately, most Californians only seem to care about the socially moderate part.

Schwarzenegger is demanding three things from state legislators:
1. increase the state's bond debt by an additional $3.3 billion;
2. cut government programs across the board by 10%;
3. amend the state's constitution so that future cuts will occur automatically.

He's also proposing that we play some accounting tricks to include projected revenues from future years into this year's budget.

But he adamantly insists there cannot, under any circumstances, be any tax increases. Not even for the wealthy. Especially not for the wealthy.

The results of the proposed budget cuts would be staggering. K-12 education would be cut, college education would be cut, Medi-Cal funding would be cut, dozens of state parks would be closed, 22,000 prisoners would be released, the list goes on and on. Poor people would be especially hard hit by the cutbacks.

Can you imagine if Gray Davis had made such proposals to solve the 2003 budget crisis? The streets of Sacramento would have been filled with protesters. Davis would have been dragged away by an angry lynch mob.

Californians, is it time for another recall election? Where is the outrage that was so evident in 2003? Where are the grassroots petitions to rid ourselves of incompetence?

Or, in fact, did the demise of Gray Davis in 2003 have nothing to do with grassroots outrage?