California Voters Don't Want Dire Cuts; They Want Leaders to Get It Right
There will be ample debate about why voters from across the political spectrum rejected Sacramento's proposed budget fix, but there is no credible evidence that they wanted to see vital investments and programs hit with $21 billion worth of Draconian cuts. Recent polls show that voters oppose cuts in law enforcement, public schools, colleges, and health care for low-income families and the disabled by more than 2-to-1. Full Story »
Posted by Chris Finnie
The problems are that (a) most media discussion of government is negative and focussed on sins of commission and omission rather than on the hard realities (b) most voters don't respond to rational explanations, which tend to be complex and often dull and (c) the political process is usually ignored, low voter turnout and inability to identify even local officeholders being examples. On the national level, Obama is apparently trying to treat voters like adults - an experiment which is too early to evaluate (and media aren't helping much). I'm not sure what luck governors or mayors are having - ours, on the other coast, isn't having much,