Ballot Deja Vu

The California state primary election is coming up. There are several special measures to vote on. That's nothing new. But aren't these the same things we voted on last time?

Apparently so... The same old causes in new guises. Tried and trued noble causes. Schools, libraries, health care, public transit. Which leaves me with questions: If these things are so direly important, why aren't they fully funded under the existing budgets? Why do we keep being hit up with special measures for funding? Measures that are supposed to do the same things that previous special bonds or tax increases were supposed to do? Well ... because we're gullible and it works. If you look past the noble causes, you can see the behavioral and financial motivators that drive these measures to pass.

The people who profit from their passing are putting up millions to get the word out about all the benefits these measures will bring. Heck, they stand to make much more than their millions back. There is no such profit for those who oppose them and much less money is spent in opposition. Plus, nobody wants to be branded as opposing noble causes. Against better education? It would be much different if we were voting on all the special interest pork that are fully funded in the budget.

My favorite so far is prop 82, which I have renamed the "tax the rich, preschool the poor..." measure. It would levy an additional 1.7% tax on individuals making over $400,000 or couples making over $800,000. The estimates $2+ billion this would raise would go for new preschool programs. "Provides a high-quality preschool education for every four-year old in California"...
What could be more noble? Heck, that's only an additional $6,800 if you make the $400,000 threshold, right? Only about 0.6% of all Californians would qualify to pay this tax (next year). That tells me right now that it has a high likelihood of passing...

Well, the opposition also makes good points which I will paraphrase as "why do we want to give $2+ billion more to increase the same school bureaucracy that is responsible for the "troubled" K-12 system? To do the same with preschool?" California ranks 45th out of 50 states in reading. Will getting the projected 4 to 5% increase in preschool enrollment really do that much to fix this? The crux of their argument is that the money would be better spent elsewhere, like K-12 grade classrooms and teachers. Also worth mentioning is that this program would put existing private preschools at a significant cost disadvantage.

I'll just stand by my first question as I read deeper into the proposals. I find that the more I understand them the more likely I am to vote against. If the causes were as noble and important as they sound at face value, they would be fully funded by the current budget...

...As always, vote wisely!