Lieutenant Governor Finch, fellow Constitutional Officers, Justice
McComb, Honorable Members of the Senate, Speaker Unruh, and Members of the
Assembly, Distinguished Guests: To a number of us, this is a first and hence a solemn and momentous
occasion, and yet, on the broad page of state and national history, what is
taking place here is almost commonplace routine. We are participating in
the orderly transfer of administrative authority by the direction of the
people. And this is the simple magic which makes a commonplace routine a
near miracle to many of the world’s inhabitants: the continuing fact that
the people, by democratic process, can delegate this power, yet retain
custody of it.
Perhaps you and I have lived with this miracle too long to be properly
appreciative. Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one
generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be
fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only
once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never
known it again.
Knowing this, it is hard to explain those who even today would question
the people’s capacity for self rule. Will they answer this: If no one among
us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to
govern someone else? Using the temporary authority granted by the people,
an increasing number lately have sought to control the means of production
as if this could be done without eventually controlling those who produce.
Always this is explained as necessary to the people’s welfare. But, “The
deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principle
upon which it was founded.” This is true today as it was when it was
written in 1748.
Government is the people’s business, and every man, woman and child
becomes a shareholder with the first penny of tax paid. With all the
profound wording of the Constitution, probably the most meaningful words are
the first three, “We, the People.” Those of us here today who have been
elected to constitutional office of legislative position are in that three
word phrase. We are of the people, chosen by them to see that no permanent
structure of government ever encroaches on freedom or assumes a power beyond
that freely granted by the people. We stand between the taxpayer and the
taxspender.
It is inconceivable to me that anyone could accept this delegated
authority without asking God’s help. I pray that we who legislate and
administer will be granted wisdom and strength beyond our own limited power;
that with divine guidance we can avoid easy expedients as we work to build a
state where liberty under law and justice can triumph, where compassion can
govern and and wherein the people can participate and prosper because of
their government and not in spite of it.
The path we will chart is not an easy one. It demands much of those
chosen to govern, but also from those who did the choosing. And let there
be no mistake about this; We have come to a crossroad – a time of decision –
and the path we follow turns away from any idea that government and those
who serve it are omnipotent. It is a path impossible to follow unless we
have faith in the collective wisdom and genius of the people. Along this
path government will lead but not rule, listen but not lecture. It is the
path of a Creative Society.
A number of problems were discussed during the campaign and I see no
reason to change the subject now. Campaign oratory on the issues of crime,
pollution of air and water, conservation, welfare and expanded educational
facilities does not mean the the issues will go away because the campaign
has ended. Problems remain to be solved and they challenge all of us.
Government will lead, of course, but the answer must come from all of you.
We will make specific proposals and we will solicit other ideas. In the
area of crime, where we have double our proportionate share, we will propose
legislation to give back to local communities the right to pass and enforce
ordinances which will enable the police to more adequately protect these
communities. Legislation already drafted will be submitted, calling upon
the Legislature clearly to state in the future whether newly adopted laws
are intended to preempt the right of local governments to legislate in the
same field. Hopefully, this will free judges from having to guess the
intent of those who passed the legislation in the first place.
At the same time, I pledge my support and fullest effort to a plan which
will remove from politics, once and for all, the appointment of judges … not
that I believe I’ll be overburdened with making judicial appointments in the
immediate future.
Just as we assume a responsibility to guard our young people up to a
certain age from the possible harmful effects of alcohol and tobacco, so do
I believe we have a right and a responsibility to protect them from the even
more harmful effects of smut and pornography. We can and must frame
legislation that will accomplish this without endangering freedom of speech
and the press.
When fiscally feasible, we hope to create a California crime
technological foundation utilizing both public and private resources in a
major effort to employ the most scientific techniques to control crime. At
such a time, we should explore the idea of a state police academy to assure
that police from even the smallest communities can have the most advanced
training. We lead the nation in many things; we are going to stop leading
in crime. Californians should be able to walk our streets safely day or
night. The law abiding are entitled to at least as much protection as the
lawbreakers.
While on the subject of crime … those with a grievance can seek redress
in the courts or Legislature, but not in the streets. Lawlessness by the
mob, as with the individual, will not be tolerated. We will act firmly and
quickly to put down riot or insurrection wherever and whenever the situation
requires.
Welfare is another of our major problems. We are a humane and generous
people and we accept without reservation our obligation to help the aged,
disabled and those unfortunates who, through know fault of their own, must
depend on their fellow man. But we are not going to perpetuate poverty by
substituting a permanent dole for a paycheck. There is no humanity or
charity in destroying self-reliance, dignity and self-respect … the very
substance of moral fiber.
We seek reforms that will, wherever possible, change relief check to
paycheck. Spencer Williams, Administrator of Health and Welfare, is
assessing the amount of work that could be done in public installations by
welfare recipients. This not being done in any punitive sense, but as a
beginning step in rehabilitation to give the individual the self-respect
that goes with performing a useful service.
But this is not the ultimate answer. Only private industry in the last
analysis can provide jobs with a future. Lieutenant Governor Robert Finch
will be liaison between government and the private sector in an all-out
program of job training and education leading to real employment.
A truly great citizen of our state and a fine American, Mr. H. C.
McClellan, has agreed to institute a statewide program patterned after the
one he directed so successfully in the “curfew area” of Los Angeles. There,
in the year and a half since the tragic riots, fully half of the unemployed
have been channeled into productive jobs in the private industry, and more
than 2600 businesses are involved. Mr. McClellan will be serving without
pay and the entire statewide program will be privately financed. While it
will be directed at all who lack opportunity, it offers hope especially to
those minorities who have a disproportionate share of poverty and
unemployment.
In the whole area of welfare, everything will be done to reduce
administrative overhead, cut red tape and return control as much as possible
to the county level. And the goal will be investment in, and salvage of,
human beings.
This administration will cooperate with the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction in his expressed desires to return more control of
curriculum and selection of textbooks to local school districts. We will
support his efforts to make recruitmen of out-of-state teachers less
difficult.
On the subject of education … hundreds of thousands of young men and
women will receive an education in our state colleges and universities. We
are proud of our ability to provide this opportunity for our youth and we
believe it is no denial of academic freedom to provide this education within
a framework of reasonable rules and regulations. Nor is it a violation of
individual rights to require obedience to these rules and regulations or to
insist that those unwilling to to abide by them should get their education
elsewhere.
It does not constitute political interference with intellectual freedom
for the taxpaying citizens – who support the college and university systems
– to ask that, in addition to teaching, they build character on accepted
moral and ethical standards.
Just as a man is entitled to a voice in government, so he should
certainly have that right in the very personal matter of earning a living.
I have always supported the principle of the union shop even though that
includes a certain amount of compulsion with regard to union membership.
For that reason it seems to me that government must accept a responsibility
for safeguarding each union member’s democratic rights within his union.
For that reason we will submit legislative proposals to guarantee each union
member a secret ballot in his union on policy matters and the use of union
dues.
There is also a need for a mediation service in labor-management disputes
not covered by existing law.
There are improvements to be made in workmen’s compensation in death
benefits and benefits to the permanently disabled. At the same time, a
tightening of procedures is needed to free business from some unjust
burdens.
A close liaison with our congressional representatives in Washington,
both Democratic and Republican, is needed so that we can help bring about
beneficial changes in social security, secure less restrictive controls on
federal grants and work for a tax retention plan that will use some of our
federal taxes here for our use with no strings attached. We should strive
also to get tax credits for our people to help defray the cost of sending
their children to college.
We will support a bipartisan effort to lift the archaic 160-acre
limitation imposed by the federal government on irrigated farms.
Restrictive labor policies should never again be the cause of crops rotting
in the fields for lack of harvesters.
Here in our own Capitol, we will seek solutions to the problems of
unrealistic taxes which threaten economic ruin to our biggest industry. We
will work with the farmer as we will with business, industry and labor to
provide a better business climate so that they may prosper and we all may
prosper.
There are other problems and possible problems facing us. One such is
now pending before the United States Supreme Court. I believe it would be
inappropriate to discuss that matter now, but we will be prepared with
remedial legislation we devoutly hope will be satisfactory to all of our
citizens if court rulings make this necessary.
This is only a partial accounting of our problems and our dreams for the
dreams for the future. California, with its climate, its resources and its
wealth of young, aggressive, talented people, must never take second place.
We can provide jobs for all our people who will work and we can have honest
government at a price we can afford. Indeed, unless we accomplish this, our
problems will go unsolved, our dreams unfulfilled and we will know the taste
of ashes.
I have put off until last what is by no means least among our problems.
Our fiscal situation has a sorry similarity to the situation of a jetliner
out over the North Atlantic, Paris bound. The pilot announced he had news –
some good, some bad – and he would give the bad news first. They had lost
radio contact; their compass and altimeter were not working; they didn’t
know their altitude, direction or where they were headed. Then he gave the
good news – they had a 100-mile-an-hour tailwind and they were ahead of
schedule.
Our fiscal year began July 1st and will end on the coming June 30th – six
months from now. The present budget for this 12-month period is $4.6
million, an all-time high for any of the 50 states. When this budget was
presented, it was admittedly in excess of the tax revenues for the year. It
was adopted with the assurance that a change in bookkeeping procedures would
solve this imbalance.
With half the year gone, and faced now with the job of planning next
year’s budget, we have an estimate provided by the experienced personnel of
the Department of Finance. We have also an explanation of how a change in
bookkeeping could seemingly balance a budget that called for spending $400
million more than we would take in.
Very simply, it was just another one-time windfall – a gimmick that
solved nothing but only postponed the day of reckoning. We are financing
the 12 month spending with 15 month income. All the tax revenues for the
first quarter of next year – July, August and September – will be used to
finance this year’s expenses up to June 30th. And incidentally, even that
isn’t enough, because we still have a deficit of some $63 million.
Now, with the budget established at its present level , we are told that
it, of course, must be increased next year to meet the added problems of
population growth and inflation. But the magic of the changed bookkeeping
is all used up. We are back to only 12 months’ income for 12 months’
spending. Almost automatically we are being advised, of all the new and
increased taxes which, if adopted, will solve the problem. Curiously
enough, another one-time windfall is being urged. If we switch to the
withholding of personal income tax, we will collect two years’ taxes the
first year and postpone our moment of truth perhaps until everyone forgets
we did not cause the problem – we only inherited it. Or maybe we are to
stall, hoping a rich uncle will remember us in his will.
If we accept the present budget as absolutely necessary and add on
projected increases plus funding for property tax relief (which I believe is
absolutely essential and for which we are preparing a detailed and
comprehensive program), our deficit in the coming year would reach
three-quarters of a billion dollars.
But Californians are already burdened with combined state and local taxes
$113 per capita higher than the national average. Our property tax
contributes to a slump in the real estate and building trades industries and
makes it well nigh impossible for many citizens to continue owning their own
homes.
For many years now, you and I been shushed like children and told there
are no simple answers to the complex problems which are beyond our
comprehension.
Well, the truth is, there are simple answers – there just are not easy
ones. The time has come for us to decide whether collectively we can afford
everything and anything we think of simply because we think of it. The time
has come to run a check to see if all the services government provides were
is answer to demands or were just goodies dreamed up for our supposed
betterment. The time has come to match outgo to income, instead of always
doing it the other way around.
The cost of California’s government is too high; it adversely affects our
business climate. We have a phenomenal growth with hundreds of thousands of
people joining us each year. Of course the overall cost of government must
go up to provide necessary services for these newcomers, but growth should
mean increased prosperity and thus a lightening of the load each individual
must bear. If this isn’t true, then you and I should be planning how we can
put a fence along the Colorado River and seal our borders.
Well, we aren’t going to do that. We are going to squeeze and cut and
trim until we reduce the cost of government. It won’t be easy, nor will it
be pleasant, and it will involve every department of government, starting
with the Governor’s office. I have already informed the Legislature of the
reorganization we hope to effect with their help in the executive branch and
I have asked for their cooperation and support.
The new Director of Finance is in complete agreement that we turn to
additional sources of revenue only if it becomes clear that economies alone
cannot balance the budget.
Disraeli said: “Man is not a creature of circumstances. Circumstances
are the creatures of men.” You and I will shape our circumstances to fit
needs.
Let me reaffirm a promise made during the months of campaigning. I
believe in your right to know all the facts concerning the people’s
business. Independent firms are making an audit of state finances. When it
is completed, you will have audit. You will have all the information you
need to make the decisions which must be made. This is not just a problem
for the administration; it is a problem for all of us to solve together. I
know that you can face any prospect and do anything that has to be done as
long as you know the truth of what you are up against.
We will put our fiscal house in order. And as we do, we will build those
things we need to make our state a better place in which to live and we will
enjoy them more, knowing we can afford them and they are paid for.
If, in glancing aloft, some of you were puzzled by the small size of our
State Flag … there is an explanation. That flag was carried into battle in
Vietnam by young men of California. Many will not be coming home. One did
– Sergeant Robert Howell, grievously wounded. He brought that flag back. I
thought we would be proud to have it fly over the Capitol today. It might
even serve to put our problems in better perspective. It might remind us of
the need to give our sons and daughters a cause to believe in and banners to
follow.
If this is a dream, it is a good dream, worthy of our generation and
worth passing on to the next.
Let this day mark the beginning.
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