The EdVocate West

Enough is Enough! Pass a Responsible Budget Based on Shared Sacrifice

September 18, 2010 at 12:32 am arunramanathan Leave a comment

We are now well past the deadline for a state budget. All over California, people are suffering as the result of politics as usual in Sacramento. Child care centers haven’t received the funding they need to pay their staffs. Local clinics don’t have the resources they need to treat and help patients. School districts and businesses are suffering from the continued uncertainty and may soon be forced to use loans to cover costs. Could our elected officials be any more irresponsible? Isn’t it time to put responsible proposals on the table instead of partisan ideas to eliminate Cal Works or sell our state’s recycling program? Isn’t it time to reach the necessary compromises instead of pointing fingers? Our nation and state have reached the highest rate of poverty since the early Sixties and scapegoating families and children in poverty for our budget woes is simply irresponsible. These are hard times. Many of us know someone or have someone in our family who lost a job or has taken furlough days. We’ve pitched in to help however we can. I think most Californians are this way. We are willing to make shared sacrifices and protect those who are in the greatest need in these difficult times. If we took authority away from our legislature to pass a budget and gave it to a citizen’s commission and locked the lobbyists out of the room, I think we’d have a resolution pretty soon.

A few weeks ago, I noted how distant our elected officials and others in Sacramento were from the pain being felt at the local level.  I wondered if our policymakers would feel differently if they actually had to deliver the painful messages that are the results of their actions (or inaction). If they had to deliver the layoff notice. Or tell a parent that their child care center was closed. Or turn away a child in pain from a local clinic. Perhaps they should send their salaries or their fortunes to those centers and clinics until they pass a responsible budget. Perhaps they should lose their authority to pass a budget to a citizen’s commission once they’ve passed the deadline for a budget. One thing is clear. Enough is enough.

Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: .