On PBS' California Connected this week, Governor Schwarzenegger repeated his analogy for the urgency of calling a special election for his four reform proposals, Props 74 through 77:
Let me ask you a question: if you break your arm now — let's say you walk out of here and you have one of those crazy things where you just fall and you break your arm — would you wait until your next physical, or would you go to the hospital right away and get it fixed?The analogy fails on two levels. First, the problems that Arnold claims to be addressing with those four ballot propositions are not in any way like a medical emergency. Redistricting isn't suddenly an emergency just because Arnold is governor, and the same goes for teacher tenure, public employee union dues, and even balancing the budget. To the extent they're problems at all, they are chronic problems that have been around for decades. Second, the reforms that Arnold proposes are not in any way like setting a broken arm. I would thus rephrase Arnold's analogy just a bit:
Let me ask you a question: if you had a hairy mole on your right arm, would you wait until your next physical, or would you go to the hospital right away and get emergency open-heart surgery?It just takes a little bit of work to reframe the analogy in its proper perspective.
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