Discussion of California Ballot Initiatives

[NirvanaMan]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Dude, you really think that paved streets are more vital to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than educated citizens? Yeah, yeah, I've worked education-related jobs for most of my career, but still. I totally agree about misappropriations, but that's the case for all worthy government endeavors.

Measure M wasn't a bond issue, which is part of the reason it kicks ass.

If you read my comments again I believe you would have to concur that I made no such qualitative judgment in my statement. I simply questioned whether it might be considered to be part of the public infrastructure. I suppose I could be convinced either way on it, though my first blush tendency is to balk at anything government controlled. I don't necessarily disagree that K-12 by our friendly government is the wrong way to go about things. However I can't say I've been interested enough to pay it much thought.

Would you argue against the importance of good roads in a modern society? Either way, diverting funds away from that which the electorate specifically authorized their collection for is wrong. Just because misappropriations are a frequent issue, doesn't make them right nor does it mean that it should be ignored.

JW, not sure that your assertation is entirely accurate. I would argue that there is not one fundamental difference and those differences certainly vary if you are comparing liberals to conservatives versus Republicans to Democrats. However, if we were to take it one level up perhaps you are meaning to say (perhaps not) that the right believes in personal responsibility whereas the left believes in whatever benefits the collective good. This obviously gets vague where issues such as abortion and gay rights seem to cross over between party lines and the whole thing just gets rather muddy honestly.

So I will say that I believe in personal responsibility and choice. Health, safety and education are rather vague topics and ones that would need to be explored at a deeper level for me to define my belief as to the role of government in each area and certainly too difficult to make blanket statements about any generalized political belief system.

I do believe however that government should exist solely to provide that which a person cannot reasonably be expected to provide for themselves (roads and stealth bombers come to mind).