Bob Barr

Calif. Governor Sets Stage for Global Appeal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 17, 2007

One of the more interesting inaugural speeches by newly elected, or re-elected, governors this month was the one delivered Jan. 9 in Sacramento, Calif., by Austrian-born and Hollywood-reared Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The speech was as notable for its global scope as much as for its massive programmatic underpinnings.

The expansive view not only of himself, but also of California's role in the universe, was evident in the grandiose language and analogies evoked by the re-elected "Governator."

While even Schwarzenegger knows the fact he was born on foreign soil to non-U.S. parents precludes him from serving as president of the United States, the language of his inaugural address reflects a view of the world that suggests the next office he might seek would be emperor of the world; or perhaps something seen as equally important in the eye of each man or woman who serves there, a U.S. senator.

Referencing two great cities that served in part as the underpinnings of Western civilization, Schwarzenegger favorably compared the state he now leads to Athens and Sparta. Forgoing any reminders for the moment of the fates that befell both ancient cities, he cited them in support of his conclusion that it will be California that leads "the world" into the future—a future that will be "the Golden Century for our Golden State."

I suppose any governor recently re-elected, especially with the significant, 17-point margin that Schwarzenegger enjoyed last November, is entitled to a certain license to employ hyperbole in his or her inaugural presentation. However, not many governors would focus primary attention in their speech to spending millions of dollars on global warming; but, after all, this is California.

The governor went on to urge his fellow Californians to authorize him to spend their money on non-fossil fueled vehicles, so that California might become the "first in the world to develop a low-carbon fuel standard that leads us away from fossil fuel." Those in the audience might rightly have reminded the governor that California remains a state within the "United States." Then again, maybe those in the audience share the governor's apparent view that California is a country unto itself, which sometimes it does seem to be to the rest of us.

Contradictions in Schwarzenegger's speech, however, did rear their ugly head, though perhaps drowned out by the hyperbolic tone of the address. While decrying Washington's failure to act in a number of areas, thus necessitating the expenditure of Californians' tax dollars, the governor did once again (as he did last year) embrace one nuance of federal policy at which his fellow Republicans in Washington have shown themselves most adept: the power to borrow.

Federal budgeteers of both parties regularly lambaste and decry raising taxes, even as they simultaneously proceed to pick the pockets of taxpayers through deficit borrowing, user fees and the high—though often indirect—cost of regulatory mandates. In such manner can they say with the straightest of faces that they are not "raising taxes" even as they spend more and more and more taxpayer dollars.

In this regard, Schwarzenegger is proving himself to be just as clever as his national counterparts. In his address, he reminded the voters he was not proposing to "raise taxes." However, in a display of rhetorical legerdemain on par with the best of Washington spendthrifts, in his address and in his budget presentation the very next day, the governor called for all manner of user fees, coupled with massive borrowing through bond offerings (more than $43 billion on top of last year's $43 billion bond program).

Such massive borrowing risks rekindling the debt crisis that propelled Schwarzenegger to office in a recall vote just three years ago, if the highly optimistic presumptions undergirding his budget fail to fully materialize. Still, the governor's speech was well-received, and reflected a bipartisan—or "post-partisan" as the governor himself likes to call it—flavor noticeably lacking in our nation's capital in recent years.

There also was one very interesting proposal made by Schwarzenegger. He called for an end to the you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours approach to congressional and state legislative reapportionment in California (and many other states) in which the two major parties agree to divvy up the districts so each maintains a set number of seats. Such "incumbent protection" reapportionment serves neither the cause of good government nor the quality of representation.

If Schwarzenegger can use his considerable star power to enact a system whereby an independent commission assumes responsibility for reapportionment, he will have performed an important service for all of us, even if we don't live in the "Golden State."

Bob Barr occupies the 21st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy at the American Conservative Union Foundation.