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" [Montesquieu]. This is
as 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 or 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 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
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 exposure to
smut and pornography. We can and must frame legislation that will
accomplish this purpose 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 law-breakers.
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 no 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 is 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 private industry, and more than
2,600 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
recruitment of out-of-state teachers less difficult.
In 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 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 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 keep 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. We
will, however, 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 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 tail-wind
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
twelve-month period is $4.6 billion, an all-time high for any of
the fifty states. When this budget was presented, it was
admittedly in excess of the estimated 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 twelve-month spending with fifteen-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 will 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 twelve months' income for twelve 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
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 have been shushed like
children and told there are no simple answers to the complex
problems which are beyond our comprehension.
Wells the truth is, there are simple answers—they 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 in 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 up 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 our 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 that
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.
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 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.