Best of
Pete Rates the Propositions

Welcome to my “Best Of” section. Here you'll find my favorite ratings from the past couple decades. I've divided these into four categories:

Compelling arguments on important issues		Quixotic crusades & lost causes
Humorous takes on laughing matters		The Poems

Proposition 183: Combining Recall Elections with General Elections - Yes
November 1994

In your state Assembly district, in the state of California,
By the great Pacific Ocean, 'twixt the mountains and the lakes,
Serves a lousy politician who they say is quite offensive,
And they want to have a recall vote, no matter what it takes.

So they circulate petitions with impeaching allegations,
And they send them, signed and sealed, on to the Secret'ry of State.
And the Secretary certifies the autographed endorsements,
And he notifies the Governor who now must choose a date.

Well, the calendar is showing an election in November,
Which is just three months from now as it is August 1 today.
But the old state Constitution says the recall vote must happen
By the nineteenth of October, 'cause that's eighty days away.

So we'll have to spend the money for a specialty election,
With the recall question standing on the ballot all alone.
And the turnout will be tiny, but that old Assembly member
Will be banished, since the only ones to vote will want him gone.

Would it not be so much better if we held recall elections
So they coincide with primaries and generals instead?
Prop One Hundred Eighty-Three allows a six-month lag 'til voting
So we'll save some dough when we chop off a legislator's head.

Proposition 173: Use of Existing Bonds to Assist First-Time Home Buyers - Yes
November 1993

Once upon a ballot dreary, as you pondered, bored and weary,
Some obscure provision of a bill you'd just as soon ignore,
Suddenly you spied a measure which, although not quite a treasure,
Might help people purchase homes with incomes moderate or poor—
Just this goal and nothing more.

Back in '82, it states here, whent the mortgage interest rates here
Were so high a first-time buyer barely could get in the door,
Voters passed Prop 5, supplying rate reductions to those buying
Their first houses if their incomes were below a certain score—
Authorizing bonds galore.

In eleven years (and counting) of the program, great discounting
Of the Prime has driven interest rates down nearly to the floor.
So the problem, as you gather, isn't interest rates, but rather
Finding the down-payment for that condo out in Livermore.
"Just the place you're looking for!"

Of the bonds Prop 5 allotted, few were used, so it's been plotted
To allow them to reduce down-payments for the working poor.
Prop 173 will let the State use Prop 5 bonds to get the
Folks with lower incomes out of situations we deplore.
So vote “yes.” That is your chore!

Proposition 163: Repeal of the Snack Tax - Yes
November 1992

Tax on snacks. Snacks on tax.
Here are facts on tax on snacks.
Until 1991 snacks were not taxed,
So you paid the price marked on snacks' sacks.
Then the hacks and PACs, as one of their Acts,
Passed the law that jacks the snack tax to the max.
So snacks now taxed include chips in stacks,
And pretzles on racks, and little Tic Tacs.
And bottled water, and Cracker Jacks,
And candy in paper coated with wax.

(The rationale behind extending the sales tax to snack foods was that the taxed items are non-essential, “luxury” foods. So taxing snacks wouldn't add any new costs to those buying just the essential “survival” foods. Nice theory, but it doesn't wash. Poor people spend just as many dollars on snacks as rich people. Maybe more, since stores in low-income neighborhoods tend to stock more Twinkies and Ding Dongs than apples and carrots. The sales tax won't change this; it will just make poor people poorer. Taxing snacks amounts to a flat fee, imposed regardless of one's ability to pay, and is therefore unfair.)

Even lax flacks and Iraq's worst quacks
Know who a regressive snack tax attacks!
Poor whites and blacks. People in shacks.
People who live on the wrong side of the tracks.
The tax on snacks is a try by those hacks
To balance the budget on poor people's backs!
So take those taxers off our backs
By giving the axe to the tax on snacks!

 
 
 
Copyright © 1980-2008 Peter L. Stahl
Your comments are welcome at pete@peterates.com