Rotting away

Something is rotten in the state of California. I hope it won’t also be my teeth.
I am a strong believer in voting. I am always ranting about how many people don’t vote, and I’m always telling people that they should vote. But the election coming up next week on the 19th really has me in a bind. For the first time in my life, I genuinely don’t feel like voting. (Sure, I can always not vote, but, in addition to being a hypocrite, I will, as I understand it, lose my Permanent Absentee Voter status.)
It’s bad enough that this is a special election - another one - no doubt costing millions of dollars. Whoever heard of an election right before Memorial Day? And what’s with the six propositions being numbered 1A-F, instead of each having its number, as usual. Definitely weird.
The reason for this expensive special election is that the state is billions and billions of dollars in the red, and we voters are being asked to approve a complex series of loans, advances and borrowing. Essentially a bunch of band-aids to tide the state over for a while or until the next bubble.
Despite predictions that the world as we know it will end if the propositions aren’t approved, the overwhelming number of voters, according to polls, aren’t buying them. And I feel like joining these voters. I don’t want more band-aids. I want the legislative system - 2/3 approval required for budgets and new taxes, term limits, etc. - to be fixed, damn it!
What’s really troubling me is that the usual quaker groups and other progressive religious groups aren’t saying I am wrong. They are mostly saying vote "no" all the way down.
But what about all those drastic cuts in services that are threatened, including those for, as always, "the blind, aged and disabled?"
Which is where my teeth come in. Even before this vote, I was notified that Denti-Cal - the state’s dental insurance program - will not pay for preventative care. No cleaning, no fillings. Only pain management and extractions. So that means that I and all the other poor people will be running around, doped up and with flapping gums. Nice.