Happy 4th of July!

With tax increases expired from the state budget, California taxpayers and small businesses will have an added cause for celebration this 4^th of July weekend.  Assembly Republicans held the line against extending, increasing and adding new taxes on our citizens, despite significant pressure from powerful special interests in Sacramento. Not bad for some rookies with only six month’s experience in the legislature.

I would say this achievement warrants a celebration, but in truth, it is a long overdue and minor victory.  The reality is that millions of Californians are going to experience the effects of this budget.  The suffering that will take place as a result of the Democrat’s decision to cut higher education and other essential programs teaches a powerful lesson for all of us: the key to balancing the budget and jump-starting the economy is fiscal policies and programs that promote private sector job growth. I am hopeful that we can still learn from these mistakes of the past so as not to repeat them in the future.

This budget reflects the fact that our states spending has ballooned out of control.  Public sector greed has led to rampant bureaucratic and top heavy administrative growth in Sacramento.  Not unlike the military industrial complex warning given to us prior to President Eisenhower leaving office, this bureaucracy seems to have no apparent curbs to halt its expansion, save for Californians that speak out and legislators that aren’t afraid to put California first, ahead of their individual political ambitions.

California has a responsibility to provide a safety net to the most vulnerable citizens in our state and provide them with the help they need under extreme duress and hard times.  We have a responsibility to provide adequate and safe infrastructure in effort to promote commerce and travel.  We need to manage our states resources with a balanced approach promoting individual liberty, and personal freedom.  Nothing in life is truly free, eventually we all pay a price.

At the heart of California’s troubled times lies its decade-long habit of deficit spending on the scale of nations.  California’s economy clearly doesn’t have the ability to print its own currency among other factors that would allow it the flexibility to maintain this practice and our chickens have come home to roost.  Should California one day lose the ability to borrow on credit to pay its debts, this 2011 budget will look generous compared to the future we might face.  This is but one possible fate we may face, but it is not inevitable.

I am however confident that we can now work on real solutions to promote solid fixes to the budget.  If history teaches us anything, it’s that when people are faced with losing what might have been taken for granted, they can spring to action with record speed and take corrective action.  If Californians are anything, they are resolute and determined to keep California the strong state it has been since its inception in the union and I’m excited to be a part of this solution.

So with that in mind, take time to appreciate what we so often take for granted today.  This experiment called the United States of America has lead to the most innovative society in history.  Our free market formula, our determined citizens and this land of plenty has brought us great fortune.  God bless the brave men and women in our armed services that can’t be here with us today, may they come home safe, God bless our families and loved ones that remind us we aren’t alone in this world, hold them close and give as good as you get, and God bless America, land of the free, home of the brave.

As always, I’ll keep you posted… Mike Morrell, State Assemblyman