of mad scientists and their experiments

There are those who say that the true goal of this generation of Republicans is to "starve the beast", to cut government funding (i.e., taxes) to such a point that it must slash funding to all those pesky "entitlement" programs that Republicans hate (i.e., things that poor people can get but which are paid for by taxes from the rich).
Well, one of the beauties of all the various state governments around the U.S. is that they can act as a kind of laboratory for various ideologies and practices that ebb and flow between the parties here.
Take California, for instance. Due to a two-thirds rule for fiscal laws, combined with the usual (minority) Republican inability to compromise, we may be about to see just what happens when conservatives get their wish for a much smaller government. They'll tell you it'll be a moral paradise where free folk will live good lives without government interference (translation: wealthy men will not be interfered with in their pursuit of more money). My guess is that it will lead to increased crime, which will lead to more crime bills, which will be paid for by... I dont know how - but no doubt it will be "creative" and involve no expense to the wealthiest citizens. Probably something involving confiscation of property - that seems to be popular right now.

Update:

Well, that's what I get when I decide to post something like this two days later - irrelevance. Okay, so Californians get to keep their government, they even got a tax increase, which is kind of amazing. Still, I think my point about Republicans is valid, even if we dont get to see the rats run the maze in CA.


props to Gerry Canavan.