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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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