Here is the propostion. You might want to read it again...
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/bp_nov05/voter_info_pdf/entire76.pdf
Look who opposed this legislation. They were all big labor unions including the California Teachers Association, the California Nurses Association, California Professional Firefighters, California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations. All wanted to keep the river of debt money flowing into their pockets.
Which are you? Teacher, Nurse, Firefighter or LEO?
I am constantly confused by the machinations of this State of California but I have come to feel that Tom McClintock is one of the very, very few California politicians who sincerely wants to see a return to sane budgetary and spending practices in California.
This is what Tom McClintock had to say about Proposition 76, the "live within our means act"...
"Restoring the authority of the governor to halt this state’s chronic deficit spending is at the heart of the “Live Within Our Means Act,” and with the adoption of this budget, it is now about the only thing that stands between our state and financial insolvency. We would be well advised to adopt that measure right here as an adjunct to this budget."
The measure even went beyond a mere spending cap and would have attempted to reform problems with the current budget, problems such as education having guaranteed minimum spending levels regardless of revenue (by % of budget), and problems such as Politicians continued raid on transportation money that should go to fixing bridges and highway potholes, despite a PREVIOUS proposition that was passed and that was supposed to prevent future raids on transportation money.
I'm no genius and maybe you are and I'm wrong. But between my reading of the proposition, knowing who supported and who opposed it, and knowing that Tom McClintock felt it was a mandatory piece of legislation -- well, I'll take his opinion over yours any day. Yes, you and others voting against Prop 76 were just plain stupid to do so.
Every California conservative I know (including those on FR that are very well informed) opposed Prop 76.
Here are some of the reasons:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1503116/posts?page=5#5
It was a rare moment than any of us broke with Senator McClintock who was, in this case, going along to be a good “team player” showing support for Arnie, IMO. Since that time, he’s given up on Arnold’s faux-conservative proposals.
This proposition was the worst of worst as in many cases it did the opposite of what was described. The provision regarding education formulas that you cite actually guaranteed that education spending would NEVER go down. See more at the link above.