EDITOR'S NOTE: This first appeared as an Editorial Opinion piece in the LA Daily News

Several weeks ago I heard a news report that a recent survey showed that two-thirds of Americans would be willing to give up 5 percent of their pay if it meant saving someone else's job.

I was happy to hear this statistic because it leads me to believe that the majority of Americans are concerned about the well-being of their fellow citizens. It also leads me to believe that the majority of Californians would agree to pay higher taxes if it not only meant keeping our state's social service agencies afloat, but if it also meant saving the jobs of the people who work for those institutions such as teachers, nurses and police officers.

But this information also poses a set of puzzling questions. If Americans are such a giving group of people, why is the California state Legislature so gridlocked around solutions that would provide the revenues needed to keep our state's social service infrastructure intact? And why is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doing so little to break gridlock? The reasons, I believe, are based on a faulty set of premises.

First of all, most Republican legislators oppose increasing state revenues through taxation at all costs in that they represent districts in the state whose constituents vote them into office to do just that.

I wonder, however, if their constituents understand that in a market-based economy such as our own, we are all especially connected. Most of us earn our livings by selling our goods and services to those around us. But if large numbers of state employees were to lose their jobs, they would be far less likely to purchase the goods and services that keep so many of us afloat. So if one segment of the population loses jobs, everyone suffers.

Second the word "tax" in itself has a horrible connotation. When people think of taxes they envision their hard-earned dollars being used to provide politicians with hefty raises or wasted in badly managed state bureaucracies.

While we do need to keep an eye on the ways in which our tax revenues are spent, many state agencies are operating on a financial shoestring. In these cases, additional monetary cuts will have a devastating effect on their ability to operate.

California desperately needs all of these social services to keep our state running at an optimal level. People cannot find or create jobs if they do not have a solid education under their belts, and they cannot be productive workers if they are sick.

What's more, as unemployment increases, so does crime. It is impossible for people to function at an optimal level if they spend a good proportion of their day fending off criminals.

So what can citizens in the state of California do to prevent the likelihood of economic decay and social disintegration? They can write, call or e-mail their state senators or Assembly members and tell them that they're willing to give, and how they'd like their money spent.

They can also write, call or e-mail Schwarzenegger and tell him that they realize that we're all in this together and that they're willing to pay a bit more to keep the state of California healthy and thriving.

Kristyan Kouri teaches sociology and gender and women's studies at California State University, Northridge.