Open Thread

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Californians Just Say No to New Taxes!

An angry electorate soundly defeated a slate of special election budget measures Tuesday, a decision that left Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers holding virtually nothing but a scalpel to deal with California's $21.3 billion shortfall...They asked California voters consider a complex mix of spending reforms, higher taxes, borrowing and funding shifts. Most of the measures were losing by wide margins, with at least 60 percent of voters rejecting them, according to partial returns.Voters approved just one of the six propositions, a measure prohibiting pay raises for lawmakers and other state elected officials during deficit years.

Would you consider this a Tea Party so to speak? As California very often leads the nation's political direction, should this be taken as a message by both Parties that Americans, regardless of what happened at the polls last November, ARE getting fed up with higher taxes and uncontrolled government spending?