EDITORIAL: The California cut

OPINION:

Nobody can reasonably question Gov. Jerry Brown’s liberal credentials. While at the helm of the Golden State in the 1970s, Mr. Brown sabotaged the death penalty and pushed special privileges for homosexuals. He expanded benefits for union bosses and ran for the Democratic presidential nod three times. Now that he’s back in charge of America’s largest and most indebted state, Mr. Brown has actually cut spending. Why can’t President Obama do the same?

The budget in Sacramento is filled with smoke, mirrors and gimmicks like the deals struck behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. However, last year, it took $122 billion in general and special fund expenditures to maintain California’s sprawling bureaucracy. This year, the state will spend $120 billion - an actual reduction of 2 percent.

That may not sound like much, but it gives “Governor Moonbeam” more fiscal conservative credibility than House Republicans who were sent to Washington in November to cut spending. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, federal spending has increased $75 billion on their watch, according to the latest Congressional Budget Office numbers. The GOP even agreed to “caps” on discretionary budget authority that ensure federal spending will rise year after year from $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years, not counting ballooning entitlement payments and debt service.

The difference is Mr. Brown had no choice but to cut spending. California’s Proposition 13 requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature to raise taxes, and the governor came up short when looking for a handful of Republicans willing to cave. The tiny GOP caucus held firm, forcing the Democratic majority to forgo massive new spending programs. The same result could happen at the federal level with a strong Balanced Budget Amendment that includes restraints on the power to tax.

California is still on a high-speed train to bankruptcy. A 2 percent trimming can’t undo the damage caused by nanny-state regulations and lavish pension systems for bureaucrats. The lesson is that a real cut in federal spending wouldn’t be the end of the world. Congressional Democrats and the president should give it a try.