Althouse: "He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers..."

August 11, 2011

"He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers..."

"... to harass our people, and eat out their substance."

55 comments:

Fred4Pres said...: Once it was a paradise...; 8/11/11, 8:49 AM
Fred4Pres said...: I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid...; 8/11/11, 8:54 AM
Tim said...: Vote Democrat. Cannibalize Your Future.; 8/11/11, 8:55 AM
cubanbob said...: I read the list. It's amazing. If two thirds of the boards were abolished no one would notice other than the redundant staff.; 8/11/11, 8:56 AM
chickelit said...: That is ingenious rhetoric. I hope it works.

A serious question is: where do all those bureaucrats live and work? I've lived in three different places in CA over the last 15 years and I've met a half dozen or so people involved in local government, not including scientists on the federal teat.

Obviously the State bureaucrats must congregate at the Church of Sacramento.; 8/11/11, 8:57 AM
Levi Starks said...: CA reminds me of the mexican cat ranch.
The cats eat the rats, then you skin the cats sell the skins, and feed the carcasses to the rats, then the cats eat the rats, then you skin the cats..........; 8/11/11, 9:00 AM
Fred4Pres said...: California Dreaming or Nightmare?; 8/11/11, 9:04 AM
Paddy O said...: This is why California is so frustrating. And this is why I am not a Democrat.

At the end of the day, for all the talk about helping the poor, there are these inviolate bloated government offices, yet because the state government is surprised by a half billion dollar shortfall in expected revenue, it's education and the poor that gets slashed:

"The budget has two tiers of cuts that would be triggered if revenue doesn't meet the projection. If revenue falls short of estimates by $1 billion, there would be $100 million in additional cuts each to the UC and CSU systems, along with a $100 million reduction in services for the developmentally disabled and a $100 million cut to the In Home Supportive Services program for the elderly, blind and disabled.

If the budget falls $2 billion short, the second tier of cuts include the shortened school year - worth $1.5 billion - along with cuts to community colleges and the elimination of transportation to schools. However, the school year will be shortened by the full seven days only if revenue is short by $4 billion."

The bureaucracy to help regulate the state is more important than the people in our state according to our government. But they guilt us into thinking that only higher taxes makes the difference. What happens with higher taxes then? They make more offices, more committees, more corruption. It's all legal, but it's still corruption and graft. California is rotting within, and its now open wounds are bleeding so that tax revenue will continue to fall.

Meanwhile, because they have a rhetoric about helping the poor, democrats will still get elected. But it's disgusting rhetoric, because when money is gone, the powerful hold onto their power, hold onto their incomes, and tell the poor they need to sacrifice yet more for the supposedly common good.

It's evil in the guise of light, and it's disgusting. But, it's so appealing even still for the undiscerning.; 8/11/11, 9:05 AM
HoftheP said...: I am a conservative Californian, but I am not on board with what you or PJTattler are saying at all. Most of the ones I looked at sound pretty sensible to me. Here let me pick four at random (honest!):

California Braille and Talking Book Library

So if you get a dread eye disease and go blind (happens to people all the time) are you sure you won't be grateful for these people? You figure Amazon.com is going to deal with all your needs? Are you sure?

California Contractors State License Board

So you want to have to pick a guy to remodel your kitchen from ads by fast-talking ex-cons with no experience and knowledge? Sounds pretty important to me.

California Division of Law Enforcement General Library

You don't want your prosecutors being able to look up cases? I don't know, that could be redundant with internet services, but just hearing the name, we are in no position to guess about that.

California Measurement Standards

Aren't they the people who check that the supermarket is really weighing your food, instead of picking a big number? Sounds pretty important to me.

Mind you, I don't doubt that CA state government could be cut a lot, but laughing at the names of these agencies is just a stupid and thoughtless game, and I'm surprised that people here (or Ann) would think it amusing or compelling.; 8/11/11, 9:07 AM
Fen said...: Brilliant!; 8/11/11, 9:08 AM
chickelit said...: I used to warn garage mahal about the power of state employee unions, holding up CA as an example. He never responded to my comparisons which I took to mean either he thought "it couldn't happen here" or he had no effective counter argument.; 8/11/11, 9:10 AM
chickelit said...: It just never crossed my mind that garage just might have embraced the California model.; 8/11/11, 9:12 AM
KCFleming said...: "Last Thursday, [entrepreneur Erica] Douglass, who has lived in California for 12 years, used her Erica.biz platform to announce that she was leaving the beaches, sunshine and laid-back atmosphere of San Diego to move to Austin, Texas, because her adopted state has become inhospitable for business people like herself. Austin, incidentally, seems to get nothing but kudos as a place for small businesses and for young professionals.**"

Dear California: I’m Leaving You. Here’s Why…
"The government is notoriously business-unfriendly–with everything from high taxes on business earnings to badgering businesses into more work.)

The state charges an income tax of 10% on all income over $47,055. This is in addition to the Federal income tax of 25% on income over $34,001. This is also in addition to an 8.25-9.25% sales tax (depending on where you buy products.) I paid enough in income tax for 2010 to the state of California alone to hire another new worker for my business."; 8/11/11, 9:16 AM
Saint Croix said...: What's really infuriating is when they cut back on libraries or schools. "We're going to have to close the library on Fridays. We don't have a budget."

That's a lie. Somebody made a decision to cut libraries and schools. That was a choice you made.

Instead of cutting waste and eliminating bureaucracy and control, they cut services that people use and need. It's almost as if they are trying to make our society bleed as much as possible. So that we will all be motivated to pay more in taxes.

"I don't see any waste! No waste. We had to close libraries. It's your fault."

It's like Wisconsin. Vote Republican and get more money for schools. Weird! How did that happen?; 8/11/11, 9:17 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: California Rural Health Policy Council

There is a health policy for rural areas?

What is it?

California will not negotiate with deceases.; 8/11/11, 9:18 AM
bagoh20 said...: It's still beautiful and the air is far cleaner that it was 30 years ago when I arrived. I was here and watched first hand as productive, yet dirty, businesses I worked with were quickly put out of business by regulation. It made the environment cleaner despite an explosion in population.

Unfortunately, the cleaner environment is the only success and the only improvement I've seen.

It was accomplished at great cost, and probably could have been done much better and with more compassion, but it did work.

That's about 10% of the crap the boomer generation has laid on this state. All the rest is a disaster of enormous cost and negative consequences.

So it is beautiful, the air is cleaner, but the business atmosphere is stifling and you do feel like your life is run by a million little King Georges.

That said, my business is continuing to boom, and I located it in a hidden part of L.A. that is off the jurisdictional radar of most regulators and inspectors. The hope here is that the state will go broke enough to get a lot of the busy body state tyrants off the beat. These people are generally unpleasant and lately have been taking it out on productive businesses. I know of one local inspector that got so pissed about her forced 1-day-a-month furloughs, that she admittedly was taking it out by fining business more and harder.; 8/11/11, 9:26 AM
KCFleming said...: The game is to create as many high paid gubmint jobs as possible, and when the tax burden seems too much, close essential services as 'proof' you can't get along without them. (AKA 'Close the Washington monument')

Worse, they cut services but the staffing is unchanged.

No state ever deigns to cut salaries for gubmint staff, however, which is easily the highest portion of state spending.; 8/11/11, 9:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Don't forget there are 58 counties in California, and general law cities, and chartered cities, and school districts, and water districts and other special districts by the score.

LA County alone has about 37 Departments.

Every reasonable sounding state agency (and plenty that sound unreasonable) are likely duplicated, or worse, at the municipal level.; 8/11/11, 9:27 AM
Paddy O said...: HalP,

It's not that they're all bad or they're not doing some work. It's that they're not all good, or helpful, or necessary on their own. There's overlap with other committees in the state and in the local/federal government. A lot of those also exist because of bloated regulations.

Sure, you pick a few that make more sense then ask why we hate all this obviously needed government action. That's the trouble with bloat. It's justifiable to someone or something.

But it's like saying that when the family is starving you stop paying your electricity bill, while keeping your cable and daily Starbucks visits.

Things have to be cut. Why start with the poor when there's so much bloat.

Personally, I think tea partiers should insist on some sort of lean governing initiative, that forces the government to cut out everything and everyone that's adding to the bloat without offering a substantive contribution.

The state could save hundreds of millions without any apparent change just by doing the sorts of things that businesses and schools are doing more and more.; 8/11/11, 9:32 AM
bagoh20 said...: "Most of the ones I looked at sound pretty sensible to me."

It always sounds sensible. That's how it happens. It just isn't done sensibly.

The problem is that they have a sensible sounding idea funded by other people's money that employs bureaucrats and people they like. This is a set up that almost always leads to ineffectiveness and huge waste.

The system just never works to solve problems cost effectively, and everything becomes a jobs program first and eventually only. It leads to tyranny every time.

The problems can still be solved, but not through government. It's a poisonous system and always has been. Which is first and foremost why we have a constitution.; 8/11/11, 9:35 AM
KCFleming said...: Why doesn't California solve this problem by creating the California Sensible Government Agencies Agency?; 8/11/11, 9:38 AM
bagoh20 said...: As I've said before, the thing I hear most often from inspectors and people I have to deal with in state regulation as some kind of consolation prize for hurting my business is something along the lines of:

"Yea, everybody knows it doesn't make sense, but that's the law they passed and we gotta follow it - everybody does. "

That makes me feel so much better.; 8/11/11, 9:40 AM
bagoh20 said...: "Why doesn't California solve this problem by creating the California Sensible Government Agencies Agency?"

Shhh! They might hear you. We can't afford another 10,000 job agency and it's taxes.; 8/11/11, 9:43 AM
Anthony said...: Halp says:

California Contractors State License Board

So you want to have to pick a guy to remodel your kitchen from ads by fast-talking ex-cons with no experience and knowledge? Sounds pretty important to me.

So instead I get to choose from ads by fast-talking ex-cons with a little experience who have passed a test.; 8/11/11, 9:53 AM
traditionalguy said...: The New Organized Community IS King Obama I Kingdom.

George III has nothing on Obama.

The King's ministers are clamping down on everything and imitating Democratic Republic to fool the new serfs.; 8/11/11, 9:55 AM
geokstr said...: I can't wait to see the list of 1,500 or so committees created by the Affordable Health Care Collectivization Act. There's going to be some real doozies in the that one.; 8/11/11, 10:17 AM
ndspinelli said...: I believe the only way to save California is to partition it.; 8/11/11, 10:24 AM
edutcher said...: Up until about 40 years ago, CA was a Conservative Republican bastion (except for LA) that was the envy of the world, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Then the Lefties came and it's just a pot.; 8/11/11, 10:26 AM
Squid said...: California Arbitration Certification Program

What if they deny you your certification? Can you take the matter to arbitration?

As to Hal's comment on the State Braille Library, that seems to me like the perfect example of something that could and should be done better by private entities. There's no reason why a voluntary association of the blind couldn't put together their own library. It would work twice as well at half the cost.

The fact that a self-professed "California Conservative" doesn't understand this really tells me all I need to know about how far California has slipped.; 8/11/11, 10:41 AM
sorepaw said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/11/11, 10:53 AM
AllenS said...: HalP said...
So if you get a dread eye disease and go blind (happens to people all the time) are you sure you won't be grateful for these people?

I'm almost 65 years old, and I don't know anyone that that's happened to. I'm not saying that people don't go blind, but how often does it happen?

WV: trace

Does WV know everything?; 8/11/11, 11:06 AM
caplight said...: HalP
I think you might pass for conservative in California but I don't know about elsewhere.

Your choice of four examples is loaded but let me take a swing at one, Contractors State License Board. No, I don't need a State Board to certify contractors. In my state that is done by the local county or municipality. It is done more efficiently, and with greater knowledge of what is really going on than anything at the state level.

And believe me, there are lots of agencies that could be eliminated outright that are on that list with out taking white canes away from blind people. In fact, you sound like a concern troll the more I think about it.; 8/11/11, 11:28 AM
purplepenquin said...: “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”

Bush and the TSA?; 8/11/11, 11:32 AM
Julie C said...: I've lived in California for 35 years and while some things are wonderful (food, wine, weather), the roads are awful, street people take craps in the streets of SF and no one seems to care, more and more regulations are put in place that hamper businesses, and of course Governor Moonbeam is now Governor Sunbeam. Crazy. We would leave but our business is here and we can't just pick it up and move it unfortunately. We are lucky to live in a very good school district but even that comes at a high price (we live in an expensive but small house and are expected to subsidize our kids' public education to the tune of $2000+ every year). But good news! The state's going to be 100% solar soon!; 8/11/11, 11:45 AM
Scott M said...: The state's going to be 100% solar soon!

It's been 100% solar since it became a landmass.; 8/11/11, 11:47 AM
Paul said...: I only worry of America will get the same as California.

Just re-elect Obama and find out cause we are heading in that direction.; 8/11/11, 12:19 PM
Joe said...: HalP, you engage in the common liberal tactic of defending government largess by picking things which are arguably useful. At least you didn't resort to the "oh, so you don't want police, fire or roads do you?" nonsense.

Believing government shouldn't do everything doesn't mean it should do nothing.; 8/11/11, 12:49 PM
Fred4Pres said...: The state's going to be 100% solar soon!

and 100% fucked to boot.; 8/11/11, 1:07 PM
Quaestor said...: The list was too long and composed of too dauntingly bureaucratic language for me to study. However, a quick perusal revealed a number of duplicated functions such as:
the California Workforce and Labor Development Agency and the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth. Another suspect pair is the California Division of Apprenticeship Standards and the California Apprenticeship Council. I saw at least five other pairs if agencies with duplicate functions.

California might be able to balance her books by just eliminating duplication. Gov. Brown ought to create an agency to seek out such duplication and recommend ways and means to correct it when found. It could be named the California Department of Redundancy Department of California.; 8/11/11, 1:18 PM
Eric said...: This is also in addition to an 8.25-9.25% sales tax (depending on where you buy products.)

Where I live the sales tax is 10.5%. But to hear the Democrats tell it, the reason California is in so much trouble is it's too difficult to raise taxes.

In the last few years I've noticed a trend in people who supply services to homeowners (like carpet cleaning and plumbing). They don't take checks any more, and somehow the pad with the receipts is in the other truck (so sorry).

That kind of thing used to bother me. Not any more - once the state becomes enough of a burden you don't have a moral duty to support it. California is a one party state controlled by the public sector unions. Let them find some sucker to lend us more money.; 8/11/11, 1:20 PM
Curious George said...: Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library

http://dpi.wi.gov/rll/wrlbph/

Thank god!; 8/11/11, 1:44 PM
Quaestor said...: Penn & Teller used to have a series on Showtime called Bullshit!. I loved that series, now sadly defunct, and I've collected all the episodes on DVD.

When P&T turned their spotlight of reason on charlatans, quacks, mountebanks, and snake oil purveyors they often gave these people the opportunity to introduce themselves, the usual formula being "Hi, I'm Jane Doe, licensed holistic healer" or My name is John Q.Public, and I'm a certified psychic counselor." Up to now I haven't given it much thought, but it seem to me that the agencies that license or certify these bullshit beliefs and practices are as outrageous as the bullshit itself.; 8/11/11, 1:48 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: A MSM prick was lampooning the Tea Party because Penna requires annual car inspections once a year and he could not believe the Tea Party did not oppose that. Using his warped librul logic, he then wondered why the Tea Party opposes Obamacare because it protects us too.

Look, we all know the govt should offer some level of oversight but this CA list just shows how out of hand govt can get when we allow it to get out of hand.; 8/11/11, 2:02 PM
Lance said...: @HaIP
California Braille and Talking Book Library

So if you get a dread eye disease and go blind (happens to people all the time) are you sure you won't be grateful for these people? You figure Amazon.com is going to deal with all your needs? Are you sure?

Yes.

California Contractors State License Board

So you want to have to pick a guy to remodel your kitchen from ads by fast-talking ex-cons with no experience and knowledge? Sounds pretty important to me.

No one picks contractors that way and you know it. People pick contractors the way they've always done, by word of mouth. The licensing board is nothing more than a barrier to competition.

California Division of Law Enforcement General Library

You don't want your prosecutors being able to look up cases?

As a professional I'm responsible for providing my own tools. Prosecutors can't afford their own copies of the code? They can't use the library at the local law school? Or the interwebs like the rest of us?

California Measurement Standards

Aren't they the people who check that the supermarket is really weighing your food, instead of picking a big number? Sounds pretty important to me.

I'll give you this one. Standardized weights and measurements is pretty important.

Mind you, I don't doubt that CA state government could be cut a lot, but laughing at the names of these agencies is just a stupid and thoughtless game, and I'm surprised that people here (or Ann) would think it amusing or compelling.

And yet if we never go this through exercise, how do we prune the departments that have become unnecessary, or were never necessary to begin with? And judging from its budget woes, I'd say your state is overdue for some gardening. But it's your state, so suit yourself.; 8/11/11, 2:06 PM
Anonymous said...: And many of these agencies are little more than shells, like the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board with 7 spots starting at over $128K, holding spots for political favorites who have lost an election.

Brown talked about eliminating it, then stopped mentioning it.; 8/11/11, 2:09 PM
HoftheP said...: Response to Comments on my Post:

Some people made interesting points about contractors. Point taken--maybe this shouldn't be a state function. But I think we need some system to make sure, eg electricians are familiar with code, stuff like that.

To people who assumed I had picked and chosen: I picked randomly! If I were picking the most essential-sounding, I would have had a less arguable list.

To those who said I am really a liberal or a concern troll--nope you're wrong, I vote Repub, and I agree CA spends too much, maybe even way too much. My point was just: if you spend even a moment thinking about most of the items on the list, they aren't really so laughable.

To the person who sneered at the idea people sometimes go blind, man I wouldn't want the karma you earned with that sneering and tempting of fate, dude. Yikes.; 8/11/11, 2:35 PM
Paddy O said...: "if you spend even a moment thinking about most of the items on the list, they aren't really so laughable."

Some are more laughable than others, but at the same time, put these boards and offices in contrast to services for the poor, education, elderly.

The state will shut down schools before these various departments. Are the ones you mentioned, even if doing something, more important than schools or medical services?

That's the question. Not if these departments have a service to offer (though some clearly are redundant and others almost certainly more about political favors), but why these kinds of departments are inviolate while education and public safety are about to be cut.

All these departments may be lovely, and all of them may help, as well as the department of handing out unicorns and the Office for the Display of Rainbows. But, we don't have the money.

California is out half a billion dollars of money it expected to have. So, what gets cut? Of course I'm much more willing to sneer at silly sounding departments, and think them less worth than a hospital or a teaching position, or care for the elderly/etc. Because we're in this lifeboat and we're having to kick something off. When you're in a crisis you can do without a lot of things you think might be needed. And why somethings that seem optional are kept while necessary services are cut, raises all kinds of questions.; 8/11/11, 2:58 PM
Paddy O said...: The Democrats of California show where their values are.; 8/11/11, 3:04 PM
bagoh20 said...: "To those who said I am really a liberal or a concern troll--nope you're wrong, I vote Repub, and I agree CA spends too much, maybe even way too much."

This would prove that you are not insane. That's a good starting point.

Your assumption is that if government didn't do these thing that they wouldn't get done and there is no other solution. I got news for you. Most of those agency don't help their target group or problem at all. They just get paid to, period. The money wasted is more than the cost of the problems they are designed to solve.; 8/11/11, 3:08 PM
MayBee said...: Yeah, I was thinking of government like California's when I was poo-pooing the idea that making prostitution legal would somehow get government out of the bedroom.; 8/11/11, 3:25 PM
Anonymous said...: The CA building code now requires the yellow metal half-dome bumps wherever a walk meets a street to protect blind people--at least the blind people who refuse to use a GPS or to be trained.

Meanwhile, the bumps are causing injuries to others. Oh well. Since Recovery Act money was used to install them, maybe we could continue the recovery by paying the guys to uninstall them!; 8/11/11, 4:06 PM
ndspinelli said...: Quaestor, I just watched a Penn and Teller Bullshit last night on Showtime. It was about taxes and seemed timely from what I saw. I only saw the end however..I had tuned in to watch The Franchise which is enlightening for baseball fans and amusing for non fans. It is following the SF Giants season.; 8/11/11, 4:12 PM
cubanbob said...: HalP said...

You are saying with a straight face that the bulk of those boards are truly necessary? And of the ones that are passably legitimate, how many of them have analogues at the local and county level? Are three layers for the same function truly necessary?; 8/11/11, 4:13 PM
Quaestor said...: ndspinelli wrote:
I just watched a Penn and Teller Bullshit last night on Showtime.

A re-run, I think. I have 88 episodes in eight seasons in my collection. If P&T are making more Bullshit! episodes it's news to me.; 8/11/11, 6:00 PM
rich ruscio said...: NY State is trying to catch CA ... http://www.nysegov.com/citguide.cfm?superCat=102&cat=449; 8/12/11, 9:34 PM