In a referendum, California voters have a rejected a scheme (Proposition 82) supported by the state teachers’ union to impose a special 1.7 percent tax on high-income individuals to fund a government preschool program. A dangerous precedent could have been set here—that a government-dependent special interest could rabble-rouse a majority into the economic persecution of a minority for narrow gain. California voters soundly rejected the plan 59–41 in early returns.