Voices
whatever Tea Partier claimed to
hate government the most, we
elected a guy who actually liked
it, Jerry Brown.
Since then, everything Republicans say can’t or won’t work —
gun control, immigration reform,
high-speed rail — California is
making work. And everything conservatives claim will unravel the
fabric of our society — universal
healthcare, higher taxes on the
rich, gay marriage, medical marijuana — has only made California
stronger. And all we had to do to
accomplish that was vote out every single Republican. Without a
Republican governor and without
a legislature being cock-blocked by
Republicans, a $27 billion deficit
was turned into a surplus, continuing the proud American tradition of Republicans blowing a huge
hole in the budget and then Democrats coming in and cleaning it up.
How was Governor Moonbeam
able to do this? It’s amazing, really. We did something economists
call cutting spending AND raising
taxes. I know, it sounds like some
crazy science fiction story, but
you see, here in California, we’re
not just gluten-free and soy-free
and peanut-free, we’re Tea Party
free! Virginia could do it, too, but
BILL
MAHER
HUFFINGTON
10.13.13
they’re too busy forcing ultrasounds on women who want abortions. Texas could, but they don’t
because they’re too busy putting
Jesus in the science textbooks.
Meanwhile their state is so broke
they want to replace paved roads
with gravel. I thought we had this
road-paving thing licked in the
1930s, but not in Texas. But hey,
in Dallas you can carry a rifle into
a Chuck E. Cheese, cause that’s
California is... creating
the kind of modern, liberal
nation the country as a
whole can only dream about.”
freedom. Which is great, but it
wasn’t so great when that unregulated fertilizer plant in Waco blew
up. In California, when things
blow up, it’s because we’re making
a Jason Statham movie.
California isn’t perfect, but it
is in our nature from being on the
new coast to be up for trying new
things — and maybe that’s why the
right wingers are always hoping
we fail. On the campaign trail last
year, Mitt Romney warned that if
we didn’t follow his conservative
path, “America is going to become