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Freedom Fades in California September 5, 2000 Freedom is a fragile thing. A candlelight in a windstorm, if you will, requiring constant vigilance to preserve. It is never safe, as the old saying goes, as long as the Legislature (or Congress) is in session.
That is because the ruling class, that is, elected officials, bureaucrats, and their allies in the private sector, get money, power and prestige from bigger government, and bigger government is an anathema to freedom. Therefore, those who are in charge of protecting our freedom, (i.e. government officials) have a vested interest in taking it away. Human nature being what it is, everyone, including those in government, act to enhance their money, power and prestige. The less freedom you have, the more power the ruling class has. Let’s take a look at what the collectivists in Sacramento did this week to infringe on your freedom, and enhance their power. First, SB 840 by Sheila Kuehl, a socialist from West Hollywood. SB 840 would create a "single-payer" medical system (that single payer being the government) so that "everyone" would have "medical care." Of course everyone means everyone, whether they are in this country legally or illegally, and whether they can afford to pay for it themselves or not, or whether their boss is already paying for it. Essentially, you or your boss would pay a tax to the state, and in return, you would get medical care. The key problem is what kind of medical care you would get. It would be rendered by government bureaucrats who have lifetime jobs from which it is impossible to fire if they accidentally killed you while rendering the care. And if the government ran out of money, they could just tell you the care is not available. Or, you would pay taxes for bureaucrats who earn six or seven figure salaries, never see a patient, and who just sit around all day and try to figure out how not to give you medical care. Government created the problems in medical care. Creating bigger government will only make the problem worse. Next, Fabian Nunez "attempted" to stop global warming by presenting AB 32. If California doesn’t stop greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (like carbon dioxide, which is what we breathe out when we talk), the whole world will collapse into a molten pool of hot lava (or so Nunez contends). So let’s create a large government bureaucracy, which will write a whole bunch of reports and regulations (which, by the way, kill trees, trees which would absorb carbon dioxide), and the world will be safe again. Not to put too fine a point on it, but poppycock. The only GHG we need to stop is from blow hard politicians who think they can control the weather and the rotation of the Earth. This is just an intrusion into our freedom. Next, Sally Lieber presented AB 1835 to increase in the minimum wage. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a large chunk of the hourly workers who get minimum wage are teenagers. So your son, the one who takes his car out Friday night, and doesn’t tell you where he is going, just got more beer money. Other than that, a lot of other people are going to lose their jobs, because the small business that hires them can’t afford to keep them. Thanks a lot California government. This is just a few of the bonehead ideas that have come out of this Legislature under the guise of helping and protecting you. The worst part of all is that each of these rules, regulations and bureaucracies will take more of your freedom, and hand more control of your life over to government in America, which is supposed to be the guardian and beacon of freedom. Thank God the Legislative session is over. ****************************** Sweeping Legislation Approved As Lawmakers Conclude Sessionhttp://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1262472.php 09-01-06 As the clock ticked down on the last day of session Thursday, lawmakers approved several key pieces of legislation with far-ranging effects for California and its residents. The Senate adjourned about 10:15 p.m. The Assembly finished passing bills before the midnight deadline but did not adjourn until about 12:15 a.m. "This has been an incredibly productive legislative session, one of the most productive in decades," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. ******************************Storming The Prop. 13 Battlements http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/opinion/editorials/article_1255124.php 08-28-06 Proposition 13 faces one of its most serious challenges on the ballot this fall, in the form of Proposition 88. Enacted by California voters in 1978, Prop. 13 limited property taxes to 1 percent of the purchase price, with a maximum increase of 2 percent per year for inflation. Changes to Prop. 13 could only be made by state or local voters. ****************************** (This bill was passed and sent to the Governor)Saving Health Aid For Needy http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14309634p-15203889c.html 08-28-06 A debate over whether the state should provide health coverage to undocumented immigrants could heat up Sacramento as an outgoing senator tries to preserve a local indigent care program. With one week left in the legislative calendar, Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, wants to adopt language into state law that affirms city and county rights to provide health services to undocumented immigrants. ******************************Parental Notification A Reasonable Requirement http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/opinion/editorials/article_1257671.php 08-29-06 Abortion is one of the most contentious issues of our time. But even many who favor legalized abortion support the idea that a minor's parents or legal guardian should be notified by medical authorities before she can be given an abortion. It does seem odd that parents must be notified before a school can give a girl a flu shot, but under existing California law can be kept in the dark about a procedure that has far more serious medical, psychological and other consequences for their daughter. ******************************Nightmare Mortgages They promise the American Dream: A home of your own -- with ultra-low rates and payments anyone can afford. Now, the trap has sprung http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_37/b4000001.htm 09-02-06 For cash-strapped homeowners, it was a pitch they couldn't refuse: Refinance your mortgage at a bargain rate and cut your payments in half. New home buyers, stretching to afford something in a super-heated market, didn't even need to produce documentation, much less a downpayment. Those who took the bait are in for a nasty surprise. While many Americans have started to worry about falling home prices, borrowers who jumped into so-called option ARM loans have another, more urgent problem: payments that are about to skyrocket. The option adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) might be the riskiest and most complicated home loan product ever created. ****************************** (All three of the current bills were passed and sent to the Governor)Three Big Bills This Year Echo Three Bills That Passed A Decade Ago http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14311237p-15211107c.html 08-29-06 Ten years ago, this column noted that the California Legislature had enacted three pieces of legislation with potentially major consequences: "a blueprint for the deregulation of private electric utility services that affect millions of Californians, the creation of a California Earthquake Authority to offer insurance protection for those who live and work in quake-prone areas and a decision to channel substantial amounts of school funds into reducing class sizes in elementary grades in an effort to improve educational performance." ****************************** (This bill was passed and sent to the Governor)Global Warming Bill Is Political Symbolism With Consequences http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/columns/walters/story/14312090p-15214737c.html 08-30-06 Politicians -- especially those seeking re-election -- love symbolic acts that send attractive messages without, or so they hope, any political or financial cost. Assembly Bill 32 is, in the main, a symbolic act by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his newly found friends in the Legislature's Democratic leadership that aligns California with the cause of fighting global warming -- in effect ratifying the Kyoto greenhouse gas treaty that the Bush administration has shunned ****************************** (This Bill was passed and sent to the Governor)Say ‘No,’ Governor http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060830/news_lz1ed30bottom.html 08-30-06 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to quickly veto Democratic legislation to stage a government takeover of health insurance in California. He will be doing us all a medically necessary favor. It's hard to imagine anything worse than giving control of health care to the same folks who brought California the power crisis, budget deficits, crumbling freeways and struggling schools. But that's precisely what Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, has in mind. ****************************** (This Bill Passed and was sent to the Governor)Illegal Immigrant Driver’s License Bill Is Back http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14311236p-15211103c.html 08-29-06 Legislation to allow illegal immigrants in California apply for driver's licenses was resurrected Monday in a weakened version that's contingent on federal funding. Senate Bill 1162 by Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, was approved by Democrats in the Assembly on a 42-34 vote, a week after Democrats derailed its precursor, fearing a voter backlash in November. The emotionally charged measure still requires confirmation by the state Senate, which passed an earlier version, SB 1160. ******************************Voters Might Need To Do It Themselves http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060828/OPED01/608280322 08-28-06 Fabian Nûñez's self-serving stubbornness has ended for this year an opportunity to strengthen representative government in California and return some semblance of fairness to Sacramento. The California Legislature was on the verge of a historic moment when Senate Constitutional Amendment 3 was passed. It would have created a bipartisan commission to establish election districts. ******************************Forgetting The Bilingual Lesson http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-ed-bilingual29aug29,0,662605.story?coll=la-opinion-center California was supposed to have learned a sad but important lesson from its years of experimenting with bilingual education: When you isolate a group of largely poor, minority students and give them different instruction from what other students receive, they tend to get a dumbed-down, second-rate education. Unfortunately, that lesson hasn't fully sunk in. Nor has the idea that playground politics and retribution are not in the best interests of schoolchildren. ******************************Full legislative text, analyses and votes are available on the State web server at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov Assemblyman Haynes’ office can be reached at (951) 699-1113 in Temecula, California or in the Capitol in Sacramento at (916) 319-2066 To subscribe to this Memorandum by e-mail, please send a request to:
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To Contact California State Senators: http://www.sen.ca.gov/~newsen/senators/senators.htp To Contact California State Assemblymembers: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset7text.htmRedistribution or reproduction of this Memorandum with attribution is permitted and encouraged!
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