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Ever since the recall election, Californians have been talking a lot about all of the state’s problems.

We like to complain about the quality of service offered by our public institutions – our public schools, health services and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Especially the DMV. We like to complain about gas prices and our dependency on foreign oil. And we always like to complain about traffic. But when it comes to actually dealing with these issues, there is a huge disconnect between what Californians want and what we are willing to pay.

It’s kind of like going to a ball game excited to watch your favorite players up close and then ending up sitting disappointed in the nosebleed section because you didn’t want to pay for decent seats. You may as well have stayed home because you would have had a better view of the action on TV.

This is the dilemma we Californians have put ourselves into. We should not be complaining that we are in the cheap seats on all of these issues when it is our thrifty, anti-spending ways that put us here in the first place.

We want better schools, yet we elect a governor who cuts the Vehicle License Fee, plunging us over $4 billion deeper into deficit. And some of us acted surprised when the May Revision of his budget included over $2 billion in cuts to K-12 education and $600 million in cuts to state colleges and universities? Please.

Lower taxes are great, but revenue doesn’t materialize out of thin air. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mythical sources of government waste and inefficiency do not exist. His independent audit of the state’s finances didn’t come up with any waste after it completed its first phase. Instead of cutting waste, the governor is cutting vital programs that perform essential functions. These tax cuts will probably lead to lower quality teachers, larger class sizes, higher student fees and lower quality services.

Taxes aren’t the only place where this disconnect is taking place. It’s also happening at the pump where Californians want a clean environment and low gas prices but drive gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles. Smoggy air is not going to go away as long as we’re driving inefficient vehicles with high emissions. Some SUV drivers even think they’re somehow getting closer to nature by driving their hulking tank-like vehicles. You can tell who these drivers are by the “Keep Tahoe Blue” bumper stickers on their cars.

Higher gas prices wouldn’t hurt as much if we were driving more fuel-efficient cars. This is why Japanese cars became so popular in the 1970s, during the oil shocks. But we can’t have it both ways – we’re not going to be safe from smoggy air or high gas prices as long as we keep chugging along in our behemoth cars.

One of the biggest problems Californians love to complain about, but aren’t willing to address, is traffic. It’s not just Los Angeles anymore. Large cities across the state, like San Jose and San Diego, are now experiencing similar traffic woes. While Californians may despise traffic, we are still not willing to pony up the cash to build the necessary transportation infrastructure to deal with the amount of population growth and sprawl our cities are experiencing.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Just take Los Angeles as an example. In downtown Los Angeles, traffic isn’t as big of a problem because there are a lot of freeways and other transit infrastructures. The real problems come as you get away from downtown, where there are single freeways serving entire areas – like the 210 in the San Gabriel Valley or the 405 going from West Los Angeles into the San Fernando Valley.

Public transportation can also play a crucial role in limiting traffic problems. While the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and light rail systems have helped in Northern California, they still aren’t nearly as extensive as the systems in urban areas on the East Coast or in Europe. Other areas in California have proven to be almost allergic to public transportation. This allergy has proven costly as some areas seem to have traffic jams from sunrise to after dark.

Californians need to realize they can’t have it both ways. We can’t have low taxes, a healthy education system and a balanced budget. We can’t drive gas-guzzling SUVs and solve our oil dependency or environmental problems.

We can’t solve our traffic woes without forking out the money to pay for the necessary transit systems. Politicians have to stop promising Californians they can have it both ways, too. The reality is we need to start realizing there are tough trade-offs that exist in these situations. We have to learn to live with the path that we choose for ourselves and stop expecting to have everything go our way.

Bitondo is a third-year political science and history student. E-mail him at mbitondo@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.