Proposition 1C - No


Say No to another batch of credit card funding

This is part of my ongoing series of posts on each of the Propositions we'll be voting on. Here is the original post, with my ground rules for evaluating propositions, my scorecard and links to each of my arguments.

Proposition 1C - No

Summary - This measure would authorize the state to take out a little under $3 Billion to build shelters for battered women and low income families and provide housing assistance to veterans, disabled people and low income families.

Commentary - This is another bond measure and another bad idea. My first and foremost objection is that government should not be in the business of providing charity. It should allow charities to do their job and take care of the less fortunate. For anyone who disagrees, how many times have you heard people speak positively of the projects? The projects are an excellent example of what happens when people use government to exercise compassion.

Government is bureaucratic and cold, it is not able to human enough to care for people because its too busy asking them to fill out forms. Charities, on the other hand, are staffed with volunteers who's primary concern is making sure that the people they are helping are actually better off. Of course, this is not universally true of either, but is true more often than not.

But even if you disagree with me on that point, the funding for this proposition should move you into the No column. If you believe this bill is a good idea, then what you should do is take out $20,000 from your credit cards and give it to the OC Rescue Mission. "But where will I find the extra $500 a month it will cost to pay for the credit card bills for the next 30 years? I want to be compassionate, but I don't want to sink myself in the process" Exactly. If you are uncomfortable doing that with your own money, you should be uncomfortable doing that with the state's money.

This bill will provide just under 3 Billion dollars for the shelters and assistance, and yet it will cost 3.3 BILLION dollars in interest. That means for every dollar we spend helping the needy and less fortunate, it actually costs us MORE than 2 dollars. If you believe that we should do the work of charity with the office of government, then why don't we at least fund the money more intelligently? Why not simply devote the couple hundred million we'll be paying each year in debt to helping people, and spend the entire 6 Billion on the people, rather than on the bonds?

Posted: Sun - November 5, 2006 at 09:28 AM | | | | | | |

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