A modest proposal for fiscal misery: Make them hurt in Brentwood and beyond

Freeways would no longer be free; we'd have toll roads everywhere. We could close a few prisons and put much cheaper halfway houses in, say, Bel-Air and Laguna Niguel. And we'd convert to pay-as-you-go with police, firefighters and paramedics.

"If you have a $2.5-million budget" for a police department, "how much does each call cost?" Daly asked. "Let's figure it out and charge people accordingly."

And let's say your house is on fire.

"Each call for services would require a cash payment of $1,000 up front," Daly said. "No checks or credit cards accepted."

In case you were wondering, no, Daly's coffee was not spiked. He was sober as a Mormon bishop, and although he sounded as though he was channeling Jonathan Swift with his modest proposal, his point was quite coherent.

He's tired, I'm tired and you're tired of intractability and political pablum when it comes to California's enduring budget fiasco.

The state clearly needs to spend less and take in more, and yet honest compromise and meaningful reform are impossible because elected officials represent the fringes rather than the middle, thanks in part to the way legislative districts are drawn.

Voting your conscience in the spirit of compromise has proved fatal, Daly said.

"The party comes to you and says you didn't vote the way you were supposed to, so they're going to run the Fresno football coach against you and spend $1 million, $1.5 million, to get him elected."

It's preposterous, Daly said, that "three guys from the San Joaquin Valley can hold up" the entire state budget.

"Who are they? Can they add three and three? Do they have any economic or budget-balancing experience?"

It's just as absurd that while people in the private sector continue losing healthcare coverage and 401(k) accounts, members of public employee unions enjoy Cadillac benefits because their bosses have bought off Democratic legislators.

So let's force a huddle, decide what we want and how to pay for it, and then put a little away for the next rainy day.

It was in Orange County that candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger set things on the wrong track when he dropped a wrecking ball to symbolically crush the car tax.

I was there to see it, and now I'm looking at a budget gap which, at more than $20 billion, is roughly what Schwarzenegger's stunt cost the state in revenue.

Here's his last chance to leave a legacy he can be proud of.

Don't be such a girlie man with the budget cuts, Arnold.

Make them hurt in Brentwood and beyond, and bring the partisan hacks to their knees.

Like you used to say when you worked with those other dumbbells:

"No pain, no gain."