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Posted Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006, at 7:02 PM ET
How bad can California's road system be if a Lexus can get up to 87 mph on the Pacific Coast Highway?
Not just the you-know-whos.
The precise opposite is true. When McClintock was growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s, California's per capita spending on infrastructure and education were considerably higher, discounting for inflation, than they are today--this despite the fact that for much of that time the governor was Ronald Reagan. California's taxes during that period were also higher than they are today. (On entering office in 1967, Reagan RAISED state taxes!) The high taxes and big spending that nurtured California's first-rate highways, universities, and public schools ended after voters approved the tax-limiting Proposition 13 in 1978. Not coincidentally, the quality of California's roads and schools declined. This isn't rocket science.
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Posted Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006, at 7:02 PM ET
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Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate.
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