Comment: Meyerson's, "How the Golden State Got Tarnished," Washington Post, May 28

Like all liberals, Meyerson goes back to Proposition 13 as California's original fiscal sin. To be sure Proposition 13 has a boatload of problems, but the real sin in California is an electorate that wants to spend big bucks on every social program under the sun, while being unwilling to tax itself to pay for them. Like a good friend of mine says, "they want all the lovin without the heartache." The road back for California involves drastic budget cuts to bring spending into line with revenues. Let every constituency scream, and we'll then know whether the California electorate really wants the all the government it is now paying and borrowing for.

I suspect that if every Californian has to bear the burden, they will vote for less government. One last point Meyerson incorrectly notes that California's poor pay more in taxes than California's rich. That is a canard because it assumes that poor renters pay property taxes through their rents. They do not; the property owner bears the property tax burden. This is evidenced by the fact that rents did not go down after Prop. 13 passed; they went up!!