Give 'Em Their Props

With another election upon us, Californians get a whole bushel of propositions to vote for. We've all been sent huge pamphlets which, considering how they're ignored, are the biggest waste of paper this side of new phonebooks.

Let's go over some highlights:

Prop 30 is a "temporary" tax because the state needs more for education.  But don't worry, only rich people will have to pay it--except for the sales tax increase. As always, my response to the state is show you're serious about doing something on runaway spending--say, ten straight years of actual cuts--and then maybe I'll trust you enough to discuss tax increases.

Prop 33 is about auto insurance rates.  It allows companies to increase or decrease rates based on drivers' histories. I want a free market in insurance, but why do I feel allowing rate changes will mostly mean things go up?

Prop 34 repeals the death penalty, which sounds okay to me, but they've also added a bit about an extra $100 million to investigate cases.  Was that necessary?

Prop 35 expands the definitions of human trafficking and increases the penalties. This smells like the kind of proposition where demagoguery rules. "What, you don't care about human trafficking?" It's not my impression that human traffickers were getting off too easy, or the definition wasn't wide enough.

Prop 37 is the most interesting, and scariest.  It would require labeling of genetically modified foods.  Proponents say they're just spreading information, but really they're spreading fear.  There's no scientific reason to treat genetically modified foods differently from the foods we're used to (many of which were genetically modified many years ago). These labels aren't there to inform, they're there to scare. Apparently, special interests have made enough exceptions so that the bills wouldn't even work for its express purpose, but for me, it's the express purpose I don't like.

Prop 38 is for those who don't think the Prop 30 tax hike is enough.  It's allegedly to fund education and early childhood programs, even though many such programs are already failures--and not because they're underfunded--and the government is already spending too much in general. (For instance, the government just re-upped on high-speed rail, which is costing billions more than expected and will probably never make money.  But that's a bad program.  They also spend too much on good programs.) Under this prop, almost everyone's income tax will be raised. Californians are not undertaxed. Everyone pays some, and by the time you hit $48,000 a year, you're paying 9.3%.  But apparently that's not enough. Even if the state deserved more money, all this would do is increase the exodus from California.

There's also County Measure B, which will require porn actors to wear condoms, created by people with too much time on their hands.

There are other major Propositions--I'm told 32 is a big deal--but just those above are enough to make me just want to say no.