Monthly Archives: June, 2009
The cost of Independence Day
The fireworks are the most visible elements of the celebration on the fourth of July. What is less visible is the existence and role of the government that enables the celebration.
Indeed, the congregation of half a million San Diegans to participate in a public event is no ordinary feat. And there is government on display in no ordinary way. There are police patrols by foot, scooter, bike, motorcycle, ATV, car, boat and choppers, courtesy of the San Diego Police Department. There are almost two hundred lifeguards, emergency vehicles, and fire engines, courtesy of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
A DROP in the bucket
The city attorney’s opinion itself is a legal question mark. His argument is that the majority of an electoral membership, rather than the majority who voted in an election, is required to pass something. If we held our politicians and propositions to that standard, democracy would grind to a halt. The “yes” votes on Prop 13 (People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation) constituted only 43% of all registered voters, in an election in which voter turnout was 69%. In the revisionist Goldsmithian logic, Proposition 13 in 1978 that is the root cause of our statewide fiscal distress, never passed.
