California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger found time to attend a Sacramento prayer breakfast last week in the midst of California’s budget crisis. Last year, he assured the Catholic Health Assembly in San Diego that he would call on God’s power to get health care reform in California: “ Every day, I will be on my knees praying the 20 rosaries, but we are going to get the job done.”
He must have gone back on his word since 2008, given the lack of health reform results so far. Maybe this latest petitionary effort will be more successful, but I’d rather see him take on the unions and at least confront the health care, education, and law enforcement costs of illegal immigration.
There are some problems that government just isn’t any good at solving.
We in California are the fifth largest economy in the world, a near paradise of natural resources and farmland, and an educated and hard working society.
The only reason we are failing right now is that when you or I or a company find their revenue dropping, we respond by reducing our expenditures; government responds by raising taxes. We can’t tax our way out of a budget crisis caused by the financial hardship of the electorate. We need to make deep budget cuts. The D & R will never agree on where, so lets just make it across the board. Or we could just spend it all and let God sort it out, but we’ve been trying that for years.
Catholics will have instant refutations that god doesn’t work that way and that prayer doesn’t work like that but the thing is that had he succeeded then for all catholics it would have been a real confirmation for their faith.
A woman was praying, and suddenly God appeared. God said, “You have been so good your whole life, I’m going to give you one wish.” The woman replied, “I’ve always been dismayed by the situation in the Middle East. Could you make it so there was permanent peace?” God said, “That is a very tough problem. I’ve been working on it for thousands of years and still haven’t come up with a good solution. Could you pick another wish?” The woman replied, “Could you balance the California budget?” God replied, “I’ll see what I can do about the Middle East.”
Here’s one from the energy crisis 8 years ago: What is the difference between California and the Titanic? The Titanic went down with the lights on.
The legal framework of health care in California hasn’t changed since last year, so it’s clear that the Governator’s prayers have received the correct answer.