When one thinks of California, there are certain things that inevitably come to mind:  the entrepreneurial spirit of the Silicon Valley, beautiful beaches, the movie industry, and silicon enhanced body parts certainly top anyone’s list.  I think it is time to add incompetent government as part of the culture.  And, the rest of us now have to bail them out.

I’m not going to get partisan here, and I don’t know all the nuances of California state government, but it appears that the state has fallen apart before our eyes under the leadership of – wait for it – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Undoubtedly the state legislature is his partner in incompetence.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Arnold.  I love almost everything about him.  I love his work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit.  I love his love for America, which I am certain is genuine.  I love that he is one of the few Hollywood stars to be made to another celebrity (Maria Shriver) and has a normal marriage and family life.  I even like some of his movies (Running Man was quite under-rated). 

What I most love about Arnold:  He has to be the most famous person whose name is frequently misspelled, at least in the United States.  Off-hand, if I were to make a list of celebrities whose names are most difficult for Americans to spell, I would have to include:

• Dan Aykroyd (but he is married to Donna Dixon; what does he care)
• Nick Buoniconti (part of the Miami Dolphins’ “No Name Defense.”  If all his teammates names were so hard to spell, you can understand why they’d call themselves that.
• Warren Buffett (frequently misspelled as if a breakfast buffet).
• Snoopp Doggy Dogg
• Brett Favre.  Rhyme with carve.  As in “carve out my coach’s heart every time I throw a bone-headed interception and cost my team the game.” 
• Dianne Feinstein.  I’d question the judgment of her parents for doing this, but it worked out okay for her.  She married a billionaire, and he bought her a seat in the US Senate.
• Mike Krzyzewski.  Called “Coach K” by all.  Nobody would call him “Plumber K” or ”Attorney K.”  He is lucky to be a coach with a nickname like. If he were a special assistant to the coach, would he be “Special K?”
• Kay Bailey Hutchison (not Hutchinson). 
• Barack Obama (it’s not like he is in the news much)
• Condoleezza Rice, probably the only name with two e’s followed by two zs in the history of western civilization.
• Jon Stewart (my bet – people occasionally misspell both his first and last names)
• Barbra Streisand (no a between the b and the r). Think how successful she’d be if she had parents who could spell.
• Carl Yastrzemski (I almost got into a fight with him a few years ago when I would not let him cut me and 50 or so other people at Best Buy a week before Christmas).

Any way….Arnold was elected Governor in a special recall election when the voters of California decided to recall the aptly named Gray Davis, who was simply too dull to be the governor of such a dynamic and important state.  The recall election attracted some of California’s leading intellectuals, including Gary “Whatchoo talkin’ bout Willis” Coleman and adult film star Marey Carey (another hard to spell name).  Against all odds, Arnold beat this group of cerebral heavy weights and was elected governor of the great state of California.  With hind sight, they may have been better off with the porn star.

From a purely fiscal standpoint, Schwarzenegger has been a disaster.  He has been called the best governor that the states contiguous to California have ever had, because businesses have been flocking to those states in droves during his time in office. Massachusetts experienced a similar phenomenon under Governor Dukakis, when businesses and tax payers fled to New Hampshire in unprecedented numbers to avoid his oppressive taxation and anti-business policies.  Naturally we almost elected him President.  Since Schwarzenegger’s election, more Americans have moved out of California than have moved in for the first time in that state’s history. California’s business costs are more than 20 percent higher than the average state’s.  If, since 1990, state spending increases had been held to the inflation rate plus population growth, the state would have a $15 billion surplus instead of a $42 billion budget deficit, which is larger than the budgets of all but 10 states. You got that:  California’s budget deficit is larger than the budget of 40 states.  Since 1990, the number of state employees has increased by more than a third. In Schwarzenegger’s less than six years as governor, per capita government spending, adjusted for inflation, has increased nearly 20 percent.  He makes Mike Dukakis look competent and fiscally responsible.

In normal times, I would not really care. We don’t live in normal times.  California is inevitably going to get tons of bailout money and, its voters will be rescued from their own incompetence and irresponsibility.  And why?  Why should voters in, say, Kansas, have to pay increased taxes to bail out California.  Kansas lived within its means, does not offer its citizens any where near the government services California does…and is being punished for its maturity and responsibility.  When Katrina hit Louisiana in 2004, nobody griped when we bailed that state out.  Those folks were victims.  California is going to get a much bigger bail out…and they cannot claim victimhood, unless repeatedly voting in the same incompetent politicians year after year makes you a victim.  The state that has elected such great leaders as Pat Brown, Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson is reduced to mendicancy.   Who’da thunk it?

Questions:

• What celebrity names do you find it most challenging to spell?
• If it were your decision, would you have the other 49 states bail out California, or would you force the citizens to pay more taxes, cut government services, and start to elect competent leaders?
•  Did you ever think you’d see a blog that mentioned Mike Dukakis and Snoop Dog in the same post?