California Renovation
Our government is broken. Here’s a blueprint for fixing the mess that is California.
(July 23, 2009) The California Constitution is no work of art.
It’s more like the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Lots of little rooms, stairs that lead nowhere, doors that open onto blank walls and windows set into the floorboards. “We keep adding rooms, but the hallways don’t connect together,” says state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, of our state’s constitutional house of mystery. “There’s not a lot of thought given to the overall architecture.”
Since 1879, the state constitution has been amended 512 times. Compare that to the U.S. Constitution, which you just don’t mess with. Its 27 amendments are straightforward principles concerning the essential function of government and the rights of the governed.
The California Constitution is more like a very long grocery list, on which one can scratch things out or scribble them in. The right to fish and the right the conduct stem-cell research are constitutional rights in California. The constitution divvies up vehicle license fees. Laws regulating low-rent housing projects are enshrined in the constitution. It’s loaded down with special taxes and spending restrictions that cannot be changed, except by a vote of the people.
“We’ve embedded so many policy decisions into the state constitution, it’s just become unworkable,” said Mark Paul, with the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. Unworkable. Unmanageable. More and more, pundits and academics say the state is literally “ungovernable.”
The May 19 special election shows just how bad things have become.
Faced with a $42 billion budget deficit, the state Legislature asked voters to approve an array of budget measures that lawmakers could not perform themselves, thanks to decades of budgeting by ballot initiative and constitutional amendment. Voters soundly rejected Propositions 1A through 1E—and seemed to be saying, “That’s not our job.”
“The electorate absolutely hated it. But the fact is that the Legislature had to do it that way. We’ve tied ourselves in knots,” said Paul.
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Today
Inked Hearts Valentine’s Tattoo Expo
STAFF PICK / events / 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Blue Lake Casino. Get a tattoo from local and/or guest artists. www.bluelakecasino.com. 668-9770.
Trinidad School Valentines Ball
events / 6 p.m. Trinidad Town Hall, 409 Trinity St. Roaring ‘20s theme dinner and dance featuring blues master Earl Thomas. $60. 677-3631.
Artists Valentines Exhibition/HeART Auction
holiday events, art / 6-8 p.m. Morris Graves Museum of Art, 636 F St., Eureka. Bid on original art for your sweetheart while enjoying wine, hors d'oeuvres and live music. Proceeds benefit Humboldt Arts Council programs. $20/$15 HAC Members. www.humboldtarts.org. 442-0278.
Valentine's Dance
events, music, dance / 8-11 p.m. Arcata Community Center, 321 Community Parkway. Arcata Volunteer Fire Department sponsored dance includes music by Dr. Squid no-host bar, late evening buffet, raffle and silent auction. $10. ArcataFire.org. 825-1562.
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ONE Comments
Comment / By C Heber / July 25, 2009, 1:09 p.m.
Almost all systems would work fine if the elected officials had the primary goal of respecting stated will of the people. But instead there is an attitude amoung elected officials and citizens that they have the duty to follow their own course without compromise. Everyone in disagreement is to be out manuvered at all costs. How can any Constitutional Convention possible rise above this to accomplish some worthwhile? I think it has to get worse before good governance seems more important that social engineering to most people.