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At the same time many other initiatives, incrementally and stealthily, usurped power from the legislature through “ballot-box budgeting”. More than 100 of the initiatives of the past two decades promised something for nothing, such as cutting a tax or expanding a service. Of those initiatives, about two-thirds passed. Who could be against better mental-health care, or against locking up criminals longer to keep the streets safe? Public parks sound good, as does pristine nature. And so forth.
More and more of the budget thus became allocated before the legislature ever sat down to negotiate. Karen Bass, the previous leader of the state assembly, says that “we have control of only 10% of the budget.” Whatever the precise percentage is, voters long ago seized most power of appropriation from their legislature. This is highly undesirable. The mandate of representatives in a Madisonian republic is to analyse the trade-offs inherent in any policy. For example, an inmate in a Californian prison costs about $47,000 a year to keep. If that inmate is non-violent, would this money be better spent on educating several children (who might then avoid becoming prisoners a decade hence and instead pay taxes)? The ballot box does not allow for such deliberation.
More than 100 of the initiatives of the past two decades promised something for nothing, such as cutting a tax or expanding a service. Voters, however, see things differently. They do not blame themselves but their legislature for California’s recurring budget crises. In this, they resemble “the boy who murders his mother and then complains that he’s an orphan”, as Messrs Mathews and Paul put it. Increasingly irate, voters then want to chastise the legislature even more.

A. 어휘
incrementally 增分(증분)하면서, 증가하면서. stealthily 눈에 띄지 않게, 비밀히.
usurp 簒奪(찬탈)하다. “ballot-box budgeting” 주민투표를 통한 예산편성.
locking up 收監(수감)하다. pristine 원시시대의, 순박한, 청결한.
so forth 기타 등등. allocate 할당하다, 配分(배분)하다.
state assembly 州의회. precise 정확한. seize 장악하다.
appropriation 歲出豫算案(세출예산안). mandate 명령.
trade-offs 타협을 위한 거래, 兩者(양자)의 균형. inherent 타고난, 본래의, 고유의.
inmate 在監者(재감자), 피수용자. deliberation 熟考(숙고), 審議(심의).
recurring 재발하는. irate 성난. chastise 叱責(질책)하다, 응징하다.