I got into a couple of good political discussions today which is not hard to do when I spend several hours at the Regional Center where I used to work full time. But for a fluke of politics Regional Centers would be state agencies and regional center employees would be state employees. But they aren't and they aren't. Still, everyone wants them to act like state agencies but without the political power and budget protection.
But my comment today is not about Regional Centers but about ideas, specifically ideas in solving problems. In my discussions with people about the California budget, for example, there are a lot of people who are quick to criticize and even say what shouldn't be done but when I turn the problem around and ask, "Well, then, what would YOU do?" there is often a big silence. To fill the silence, they'll often respond by repeating, "I wouldn't do THAT" or "I don't know but it isn't my responsibility, is it?" If they do venture an idea, it is easy enough to follow that idea to one or two of its conclusions and find that things aren't so simple, after all. Anything can be solved in general. It's the details that mess you up.
Now if I could just come up with an idea about how to get people to come up with ideas.
I'm pretty well convinced it will take disaster to fix the budget. It looks like no one is willing to raise taxes so there will have to be horrible cuts. Then we will either learn to accept them or it will change enough minds that maybe increased taxes aren't the worst possible option.
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of the problem with the initiative process, isn't it? We get to tell the state what to do or not do, but not how to make it work.
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