Confiscate-and-spend liberalism in action

The hallmark of contemporary liberalism is the imposition of "forced contributions" to pay for progressive policies. The essence of the forced contribution is the leveraging government power to force private economic agents to donate money to some government purpose, or else! In practice, the forced contribution is expressed in the liberal viewpoint that any industry that dares to show a profit (or that dares to show weakness) is a target for a money-grab. That this is one of the more illiberal means of funding government short of slave labor doesn't bother liberals in the slightest.

The latest example of a new forced contribution campaign is California's lawsuit of automakers over carbon dioxide emissions, which was filed immediately after Governor Schwarzenegger signs a new bill for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Is this because American automakers -- and nobody else -- are entirely responsible for the planet's global warming problem? Or is this because California liberals have decided that it's payback time?