I couldn't help but think of that famous Jedi Master Yoda's response to the whiney Luke's "I can't believe it", when I read this Sacramento Bee opinion piece by Assembly Budget Chair Noreen Evans. Apparently, Ms. Evans doesn't believe that it is possible for the state to live within its means.

As California struggles financially, "live within our means" is a popular chant in some political circles. This slogan sounds reasonable but in practice is meaningless.

California faces a budget gap of more than $20 billion. We could fire every state worker, close every university or shut every prison and still not close the deficit.

To "live within our means," the governor proposes eliminating services valued by Californians across the state. He proposes eliminating Cal Grants that help lowincome youths attend college, health care for nearly a million children and welfare-to-work programs needed now more than ever with unemployment above 11 percent. He proposes virtually eliminating In-Home Supportive Services, a decades-old program that enables the disabled and the elderly to live in their homes instead of institutions. The governor proposed to close nearly every state park and proposes suspending Proposition 98 (the minimum guarantee for K-12 education funding) for the second time in his tenure.

My first reaction to this rant from the Chairperson was, "Well, if firing every state worker and closing every university or shutting every prison won't close the deficit, then don't do that." I think in general the public expects their elected representatives to try solutions that actually might work.

She then runs through a list of all of the wonderful programs that might be cut and the terrible consequences to the elderly, disabled, homeless, and even sick low-income children if those programs are reduced by a single dollar.

Along the way, she blames the Governor and the Republicans for this terrible budget fix. Of course she's right. The Governor and the Republicans deserve a large share of the credit for this fiasco. In her mind, if it weren't for the yucky 2/3 rule required to raise taxes, the Chairperson and her colleagues could just raise taxes and fees enough to avoid a single budget cut. Everyone would win.... except the ones who pay the taxes, the voters. Unfortunately, the voters expressed their opinion of that solution in the recent special election where every one of the gimmicks intended to close the smaller $14B deficit were easily defeated.

The voters don't want budget gimmicks. The voters don't want the budget closed through raising taxes. They want the Governor and the legislature to "live within their means" and cut the state bureaucracy, programs and services until expenditures are more in line with tax revenues.

And because Chairperson Evans and her legislative colleagues don't believe it can be done, they will continue to fail at the effort. They don't need the force. They just need the guts to stand up to their special interest masters and do the people's work.