November 9, 2012
California voters approved a ballot measure that raises their own taxes in order to invest in education. Why is this good news? Americans like more government than they are willing to pay for. Most Americans say that they think government is too big, but when you start mentioning programs that can be cut, they insist that such programs are essential and the cuts should be made elsewhere. Gov. Jerry Brown, an idiosyncratic figure in American politics, had the guts to go to the voters and say - if you want more funding for schools, you will need to pay for it. And the voters made their choice. I think they made the right choice, but whether you think it was right or not, it was a real choice, not a smokescreen choice.
