Free Republic

As governor from 1959 to 1967, Pat Brown presided over the most breathtaking period of public works construction in California’s history. During those years, California built the finest highway system in the world, one of the largest water projects in history, and the foremost university system in the country. At a time when the population grew twice as fast as today, the state kept pace with the demand for schools, ports, prisons, libraries, parks and power plants. Today, Californians are locked in perpetual gridlock, schools are bursting at the seams and potential shortages of everything from electricity to water are...

Last year, I and many others on this floor believed it was a bad idea to borrow $13 billion to paper over the state’s deficit. And today, I believe it is still a bad idea to borrow $15 billion to paper over that same deficit. I am not going to get into the debate over whether it is better to borrow that money over 13-years or 30-years. The only distinction in that debate is between bad public policy and really bad public policy. There are only three ways to remedy a deficit. You can raise taxes – in a state...