California Ballot Trick

Here are five words I never thought I'd write: I agree with George Lakoff.

In the aftermath of the California's budget crisis, the legislature put a spending cap on a special-election ballot. But the ballot summary leaves out a crucial detail: the measure would extend the tax increases in this year's budget deal. Instead of making a straightforward case for additional revenues, the legislators are trying to get their way by slight of hand. As Lakoff says, "the language prejudices voters towards passage of the proposition and toward the political and economic views of the proponents of the proposition."