- Sister Toldjah - https://sistertoldjah.com -

California’s big-government madness, drowning in a sea of laws

**Posted by Phineas

CA bear flag

I ran across an item today in the Los Angeles Times that just floored me. The article was discussing a proposed new tax on sodas [1] to fight the “obesity crisis” (insert eye-roll as needed). See if you can spot what caught my attention:

A proposal to tax sweetened soda in California has renewed debate over the state’s role in preventing obesity [2] among its residents.

State Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) has introduced legislation that would levy a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on sweetened beverages, including sodas, as part of an effort to fight obesity among young people.

The money paid by beverage distributors under SB 622 would go to a Children’s Health [3] Promotion Fund to pay for a statewide childhood obesity prevention program. “This bill will combat the obesity crisis and ensure that our children– and future generations of Californians– are not doomed to a shorter life expectancy and can instead live longer, healthier lives,” Monning said.

(…)

The Monning bill was one of 2,189 bills introduced by state lawmakers by Friday’s deadline for this year,…

Okay, so maybe I helped you a bit there.

California’s elected legislators oligarchs have proposed two thousand one hundred eighty-nine new laws or amendments to existing laws.

Keep in mind that the legislature has 120 members in total, so, on a per-capita basis, each legislator has introduced more than 18 proposed laws. I have a hard time imagining us needing more than 18 new laws in total, let alone 18 x 120.

This is one of the unintended consequences of passing Proposition 1A [4] in 1966, by which we created a full-time legislature, one that has the longest session of any in the nation, by the way. Legislators feel they have to have something on the resume to show the voters and to justify that $95,000 per year salary, and what better way to do it than write a bunch of laws? That’s what “professional lawmakers” do, isn’t it?

Again, eye-roll. No government anywhere, anytime needs more than 2000 new laws per year.

As far as I’m concerned, Californians back in 1966 made a tremendous mistake for which we’re now paying, as the legislature is controlled by a bunch of progressive full-time nanny-staters whose only solution to any problem –even problems that aren’t their business or may not exist at all– is more government, more laws, more intrusion in our lives. And if we ever hope to restore some sanity here, returning the legislature to part-time status will have to be a big part of the solution.

PS: I’m also strongly reminded of what the Roman historian Tacitus once said:

“The more corrupt the State, the more numerous the laws.”

Wise people, those Romans.

PPS: Oh, and the soda tax is lame, too. Another piece of useless social engineering brought to us by our Coastal Overlords.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets [5])