http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/mcewen/story/1769330.html

Posted at 09:15 PM on Monday, Jan. 04, 2010

By Bill McEwen / The Fresno Bee

The first political question for 2010 is this: Is any candidate crazy enough to admit that we're in an era of limits and we can't have it all?

I ask because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on "60 Minutes" a couple of Sundays back saying that California can have it all -- if it spends $40 billion building dams, fixing levees and digging a 35-mile tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

You'd think that the governor would've learned. His tenure has been a disaster, in part because of the recession and the Capitol's toxic partisan atmosphere. But he has contributed to the state's slide with his refusal to recognize that California can't afford to give everybody what they want.

Now, in his final months as governor, Schwarzenegger remains the super salesman instead of the seasoned realist. Maybe it's because of his personal story. He practically has it all. He overcame long odds to become a champion bodybuilder, box-office sensation and governor. He can drive a Hummer, commute in a private jet and still declare himself "green."

The only thing political candidates should be selling this year is reality. Cuts must be made. Services and entitlements have to be curtailed or eliminated. Government has to get smaller.

Yes, people will suffer. They're already suffering. Millions of Californians already have cut their household budgets and are doing more with less. The last thing they need is another wave of elected officials squandering taxpayer dollars on nonessentials and promoting the idea that California's resources are unlimited.

Maybe we'll finally recognize that we can't create nor can we afford a perfect world. We must realize that we've passed the point of diminishing health and environmental returns for all the regulation we've placed on business. And those running for state office must stop talking about liberal and conservative doctrine and spell out the trade-offs, in terms of both money and quality of life, involved in budget-setting and lawmaking policies.

California can't rely on the cheap labor supplied by illegal immigrants without paying the social and hard costs of a porous border. It can't enjoy the view off the Santa Barbara coast without paying higher fuel costs caused by our off-shore drilling ban. It can't afford to pay public employees defined-benefit pensions that are far better than what private citizens receive. It can't drive up the cost of doing business without chasing away investors. It can't provide enough water to keep Southern California developers, farmers and salmon fishermen happy -- and nature healthy. It can't lock up every drug offender without paying for prisons and guards. And it can't keep borrowing against next year's income to pay this year's costs without digging us deeper into the hole.

But politicians don't get elected by saying no. Or being real. Or talking about trade-offs.

They get elected by weaving dreams.

This brings us to the second political question of 2010: Who'll vote for a candidate crazy enough to say that we can't have it all?
The columnist can be reached at bmcewen@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6632. His blog is at fresnobeehive.com.