It’s time to recall Arnold Schwarzenegger from the Governor’s seat in California.
He claims that the state is in a cash crisis. He’s also committed himself to not raise taxes, and to cut them wherever possible.
Well, now he’s moved beyond cutting taxes. Now he’s cutting wages. And that’s the point at which I say, “It’s time to recall this guy.”
Come with me after the jump for some reasons why, starting with the fact that he lied about the state having a cash crisis, and that he’s the one who’s responsible for creating this budgetary problem in the first place.
When he orders that 200,000 state workers’ salaries be slashed to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour, and that 20,000 or more state workers be laid off entirely in order to balance the state budget, it’s time to think about recalling him. When he refuses to sign any bill at all, and further states that he may start vetoing all bills that reach his desk until his budget gets passed, it’s beyond time to think about a recall and start acting on it. When it’s discovered that the state does not have a cash crisis, and that this wage-slashing stunt has no real point except to frighten state workers, it’s time to talk about stronger censures than a recall.
But let’s start with that.
Schwarzenegger’s commitment to slashing taxes has finally come back to bite him, and by extension the state, in the ass. His refusal to sign bills that have, in some cases, been working their way up to his desk for several years shows that he still thinks the way he did as a movie star – that if he just bluffs hard enough, people will buy it. He figured if he could bluff his way through several mediocre action films, he could bluff his way through the political arena as well. He learned his lines: “tax cuts” and “fiscal responsibility,” figuring that saying the words would distract people from the consequences of his actions.
It isn’t working anymore. It’s time for him to stop.
Folks, taxes are a fact of life. You must pay them. Period. If you don’t, the state doesn’t have the money to do its jobs. Period. It is unconscionable to penalize working-class people for the budget shortfall when the government will not institute reasonable and necessary taxes to ensure reasonable and necessary income for the state.
It’s time to ditch the movie star, folks, and put someone in office who understands the realities of the situation: government costs money. That money should be raised by taxation, not by cutting state workers’ salaries by 2/3. Penalizing the workers because the government chose not to raise the necessary funds from the entire population? That, as columnist Dan Walters says, is nothing more than a movie-star stunt.
I don’t want a movie star running my state. I want a governor who gives a damn about the people who work for him, and the ones who work for them, and the ones who work for them. I want a governor who acts like an adult, even when being an adult isn’t pretty or fun or glamorous. I want a governor who works for compromise, instead of demanding “my way or the highway.” I want a governor who will work things out without harming the people who can least afford to have their pay slashed to the floor.
Yes, it’s great that Arnie opposes the ballot initiative that would take away my marital rights. But he has to do more than that. He has to do the really hard stuff: act like an adult about the money situation, and accept that government requires revenue. Act like an adult and stop lying. Act like an adult and stop throwing tantrums.
His job is to make sure that the needs of California’s workers are provided for. It’s his job to put out these budgetary fires before they threaten to burn down the Capitol. What he’s done, instead, is to tell the people who can least afford a pay cut that the budgetary crisis he’s created is their fault and that they will be the ones to pay for it, not him. That’s like a parent dropping the family money crisis on the shoulders of their sixteen-year-old kid.
I have a great idea to balance our budget in this state. Let’s tax the Governor. Let’s demand two-thirds of all the income Schwarzenegger ever made from his movies, and funnel that money into the state coffers. Perhaps then he’d get a glimpse of what it’s like to be part of the working class.
Who’s responsible for this financial crisis? He is. Who should pay for it? I think he should.
And if we can’t make him pay financially, then we should make him pay politically.
It’s time for a recall. Who’s with me?
Crossposted from my diary on Daily Kos.