Proposition 13: Screwing the Poor

The main casualty of Proposition 13 within California— and perhaps without—is the dominant politics of the last 40 years. Welfare-state liberalism has almost vanished from the state’s political spectrum. The welfare state itself still limps along, more feebly than before, but without benefit of audible defense. In this state of sects and movements, it doesn’t even rate a cult.

Consider as a case in point the Democratic turnabout on the state spending limitation....