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2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)Liberal, not Conservative policies turned CA's $42 BILLION dollar deficit into $850 million surplus [View all]
And it only took five (5) simple steps and less than four (4) years to do it, requiring zero Republican input. Every State can emulate these steps and Democrats should campaign on them as a reason why Americans should vote straight Democratic Party come November 4th.
The five steps are:
1: Independent Redistricting, that made districts look more like the electorate (unlike Ohio, for example);
2: Reinstating Majority Rule on the Budget, thanks to Prop 25, we no longer needed a 2/3rd majority in order to pass a budget, eliminating the Republicans' obstructionism. A simple majority was all that was needed, and if no budget passes, lawmakers' salaries would be held up until one was;
3: Online Voter Registration, resulted in 800,000 more people registering to vote. Online voter registration helps poorer and incapacitated voters to register;
4: Asked Voters to Raise Taxes, Gov. Brown couldn't get Republicans to pass a tax hike on those making $250K +, so he went straight to the voters for an increase on State income tax. But Progressives curtailed Mr. Austerity's plan, pushing for an increase on those who make $500k + while cutting the increase in sales tax (which everyone pays) that the Governor had planned by a quarter percent ;
5: Massive Turnout Effort, which resulted in 72% turnout during the 2012 presidential elections - the largest turnout in CA history.
Although the State of California still has it problems, California (and one other State, I forget which one) had begun its painful comeback when California voters didn't fall for the Koch-funded Republican "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!" scam in 2010.
Instead of electing more Republicans, we added more Democrats to our legislature. We dismissed corporate-backed Republican Meg Whitman, preferring a much older and former-Gov of this State, Jerry Brown (although he shouldn't be credited with our current surplus - not by a long shot!) and Liberals and Progressives in our State began wielding their new-found power, guiding our State to fiscal solvency in the least painful way for lower incomes and the poor, and doing it all in less than four years after the 2010 midterm elections.
The result?
Liberal policies and actions closed our whopping $42 billion dollar deficit (left to us, courtesy of Aaahnold Schwarzenegger and a recalcitrant Republican Party in our legislature) and gave us our $850 million surplus since January 2014.
Liberal policies are what work. California has proven it. Conservative policies continue to fail the American people and this country.
So it surprises me to read that California's success story isn't more widely known.
Every progressive talking-head should be crowing about this astounding success in California, and use it as an example why the American people should vote Democratic come November 4th.
Every Democrat in every State should point to California's amazing rebound under a Democratic legislature and a Democratic governor as the reason why we should all turn our backs on Republicans and vote Democratic Party come November 4, 2014.
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Liberal, not Conservative policies turned CA's $42 BILLION dollar deficit into $850 million surplus [View all]
BlueCaliDem
Aug 2014
OP
I think it is also important to point out that Brown is mostly a very **progressive**
newthinking
Aug 2014
#50
But our "liberal media" will not cover the facts and will continue to push the ..
Botany
Aug 2014
#5
Do you think we'd be better off under the koch/GOP? This Californian says ABSOLUTELY NO!
calimary
Aug 2014
#24
The point is that without D control we would still have that $340-b in debt AND MORE.
stopbush
Aug 2014
#48
Absolutely. We also expanded access to healthcare, including access to abortion.
SunSeeker
Aug 2014
#9
Yep! And added a wide range of dental services under CA's Medi-Cal (ObamaCare medicaid expansion)
BlueCaliDem
Aug 2014
#12
Yep. And even with higher taxes and the rich paying more of their share, Beverly Hills STILL looks
calimary
Aug 2014
#25
The Vehicle Registration fees hike was not Progressive or Regressive, it's Retroactive Tax
itsrobert
Aug 2014
#29
That mythical HUGE vehicle tax increase was used by Republicans to boot Gray Davis out.
BlueCaliDem
Aug 2014
#34
Actually only a small portion of the annual vehicle registration fee is tax deductible.
itsrobert
Aug 2014
#37
Yes, it is. Every liberal policy that's benefited this country throughout history
BlueCaliDem
Aug 2014
#62
"I'm not sure I could turn my back on a thug ... who would be watching MY back? "
BlueCaliDem
Aug 2014
#63