Girly from the Start

In “Governor Girly-Man” (March 9), Steven F. Hayward does a very fine job detailing California’s recent budgetary history and the disappointing fiscal performance of Governor Schwarzenegger. However, I wish Hayward had spent more time describing Schwarzenegger’s unwillingness to promote a spending limit in the weeks that followed his inauguration. Nearly all the Republican candidates in the 2003 recall election, including Bill Simon, Tom McClintock, and Schwarzenegger himself, promised tight spending limits in their fiscalreform packages.

Furthermore, after the recall election, Schwarzenegger was in a unique position. California was facing its worst-ever budget crisis, and Schwarzenegger had the political capital necessary to push for serious fiscal-policy reforms. Unfortunately, he abandoned his promise and compromised with Democrats on some incremental budget reforms. Today, Californians are still paying for his unwillingness to aggressively pursue a tight spending limit.

Michael J. New Visiting Fellow, Witherspoon Institute Assistant Professor, University of Alabama

Movies with Messages

Your piece on “the best conservative movies” (February 23) was cute. It was also a little silly. The whole idea of a “conservative movie” is a little silly. So is the idea of a “liberal movie.” Sure, movies express ideas; and sure, the value of a work of art may consist partly in what it teaches us; and sure, it’s fine to note, as fact, that a movie appeals to this group more than that one. But parts of your list came pretty close to making ideology an aesthetic criterion, perhaps the primary one. Take Number 8, Juno. What you published gives me no reason to think this movie is well-made; you say only that it promotes doctrines you agree with.

I was also a little put off by the self-congratulatory introduction. “Because conservatives love movies . . .” you write—as though to remind us how very special we are. (Do liberals not love movies too?)

Sonja Rossett Elko, Nev.