Davis’ “˜paid family leave’ hurts Californians

Sometimes, it can be beneficial to view life as black or white,
especially when Gray will lead to disaster.

As the gubernatorial race between Gray Davis and Bill Simon
becomes closer to a dead heat, it seems our flustered incumbent
governor is racing to capture as much power as he can before facing
the wrath of Californians in November. He apparently doesn’t
believe he’s done enough for us already by bankrupting the
state from a gajillion dollar surplus or getting us involved in a
power crisis comparable to the gas shortage in the ’70s.

Now Davis feels he must “help” California by signing
pieces of legislation, each one tightening the state’s grip
on the freedom of individual citizens, including a piece of
legislation that has garnered the praise of the media this past
week.

This insurgence against the rights and interests of Californians
has taken on the euphemism of “paid family leave.”
According to a Los Angeles Times article, the plan forces workers
to pay $70 a year into a fund that would pay them up to six weeks
of paid family leave in case of illness, pregnancy or medical
emergency.

While this may sound fine on paper, in reality, it’s not
so beneficial. It means good workers who plan their time
accordingly and take responsibility for their emergencies by making
alternate plans must now pay more so their irresponsible coworkers
can take a day off to frolic with their kids at Disneyland. Keep in
mind these same workers are already being ripped off by excessive
taxes.

Also, employers will now have to hire and train brief
replacements for workers on leave or sit and watch as one
person’s work fails to get done. This legislation will
invariably lead to loss of productivity and loss of profits.

I urge those who support this legislation and those who view
profits as evil and self-serving to remember that profits are the
only thing increasing employment opportunities. Falling profits
will restrict the amount of money available to hire new employees
and lead to greater unemployment.

Lastly, the bill will make it a liability to hire people with
big families. If a person is single, then an employer can expect
very little family leave. If a person has five children and is
pregnant, then it can be too costly to hire that person. As a
result, those who need jobs the most are shafted by state
legislation.

Let us not forget many businesses already offer special paid
leave options for pregnancy or medical reasons. They do not do it
because big brother Davis or Bush ordered them to do so by state
mandate. They do it because they recognize good employees make them
money and therefore will bear costs or make sacrifices to keep
those who are valuable.

Government is not an arbiter of morality and we do not need it
to tell us what constitutes good conduct in the workplace.
Employers will reward their superb workers accordingly and will
only be punished if Gray Davis is allowed to help the laziest
workers. Businesses will naturally give benefits and rewards to
guarantee everyone is performing up to expectation. All the
government seems to do is ensure everyone will perform at the
lowest common denominator.

If Gray Davis truly cared about California families, he would
ditch the socialist dogma fed to him by legislators and unions.
Removing the marriage tax, estate tax, and lowering the income tax
would allow parents to work far less for the same amount of money.
As a result, families will have more time to spend with each other
and more money.

Because most divorces occur due to financial burden, lowering
these taxes would help more families stay together, thus insuring
more success and happiness among children. More time for families
also means parents could raise their children instead of a putting
them into a failing public school system run by an ineffective
government bureaucracy.

Despite all the things Gov. Davis could do to improve the lives
of Californians, he chooses to put further hardship and burden on
the people of California with legislation like “paid family
leave.”

But he’s been doing that for four years now, so I guess
Californians should be used to it.

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