So far, the only realistic assessment of the problem facing California comes from Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), who said: "Clearly, cuts alone won't fix things. If there's a $14 billion deficit, you could close every one of the state's public universities and still be nowhere close." I await the proposed details, to be released in two days, to see if any of the other state elected officials recognize reality.

Over the next several months, if not years, Californians are going to be facing some serious decisions as to what programs to keep and what to abandon. Any programs which are kept will need stable income sources to cover expenses, and that could include raising specific taxes. If this is done in an honest manner, and not one in which vested interests maintain their sacred cows while butchering the family cat, it could result in the end of the general fund concept of governmental funding.

Such "budgeting" has never worked since it became the popular method used by governments ranging from local to the federal under John Kennedy. I wasn't very old at the time, but I remember thinking that the proposed change from specific taxation for specific needs to "we'll pay whatever is important first and worry about the rest later" didn't make much sense. It's perhaps a tribute to the strength of the American economy that it has taken so much abuse in the form of graft, corruption, and expensive wars designed to impose our will upon the unwilling before the consequences of these ill-considered acts fell upon us.

But rather than rehash past history, I insist that it's the future that demands and deserves our attention. I repeat that we have tough choices facing us, and everyone - especially the well-connected - are going to have to give something toward the common good. Every level of government, ranging from local to federal, will undergo this process. Every state, county, city, township, ward, borough, and village is staring at the exact same problem about to eat California alive, so it behooves the rest of the nation to see to it that they learn from our mistakes. The country will not survive in any form resembling our traditional self if this condition isn't honestly met. We can't remain a democracy if only the wealthy have education, medical care, and the necessities of life. We already know that there is no interest in the private sector to provide these things. That only leaves the government, which is made up of We, the People.

We won't have an economy if there is no infrastructure by which to move goods. We won't survive if there aren't functioning and adequate water and waste treatment resources. It is our duty and obligation to create the things that meet these needs, and to see to it that we all pay our fair share - especially the wealthy. They have had things their way for 27 years, and there is no hiding the fact that their way of letting greed rule doesn't work.