Jerry Brown’s travelling around the state, trying to get Republican voters to urge their legislators to go along with his budget plans. And he’s telling the harsh truth: If he’s forced to do an all-cuts budget, not just the poor but the middle class will get hammered. One of the most dramatic changes will be in higher education.
Brown says that if he has to make another $15 billion in cuts, the price of a year at UC will go up to $20,000. That’s going to price a lot of kids out of the college market and undermine one of the pillars of California society — the provison of affordable higher education for all. It will have another insidious impact: More kids will graduate deeper in debt — and will be unable to pursue public-interest occupations that don’t pay well.
Think about it: You graduate with $80,000 in debt, it’s much harder to work at a community-based nonprofit, or even as a teacher. God forbid you decide to go to law school or medical school; by the time you’re out, there’s no way you’re doing public interest law or working in a community clinic.
That, of course, is part of the hidden agenda here: The people who want tax cuts and small government also want to get rid of those pesky social change organizations and povery lawyers.
Here’s the odd thing, though, about Brown’s barnstorning tour:
He’s going into Republican districts — and threatening to do exactly what the Republicans in Sacramento want. They want an all-cuts budget, and they want a Democrat to have to take responsibility. So Brown what Brown is saying to the GOP legislators is: Do what I ask — or I’ll give you everything you want. Not exactly an offer they can’t refuse.
His big mistake was assuming that the Republicans would ever work with him. He should have started back in January with a signature drive to put an all-taxes (or mostly taxes) solution on the ballot. You want to block my half-cuts, half-taxes budget? Fine — I’ll give you a budget with no cuts at all. That’s how you deal with assholes.
And that’s why the Democrats need to be pushing their own ballot initiative(s) — now.