Gov. Schwarzenegger will soon have to propose practical solutions to the state's budget crunch, which will involve some combination of revenue increases, spending cuts and borrowing. But California has also reached a crisis point in its system of state government - an increasingly unworkable combination of pseudo-direct democracy, restricted representative democracy and creeping crony capitalism.
The recall and initiative/referendum systems have crippled California government. We now have a hodge-podge of spending mandates, restricted funds, tax limitations, spending limits and various exemptions from the spending limits, so that the legislature actually has discretion over only 30-35% of state spending. Term limits expel the most experienced and knowledgeable legislators after a few years, with a resultant increase in dependence on the knowledge and experience of lobbyists. A legislative "supermajority" (two-thirds) is required to approve an annual budget, giving a minority enormous power to hold the process hostage. Local communities are severely restricted in their ability to raise revenue for local needs.
And now people can't even count on an election's results lasting a full year, much less a full four-year term. How can you have real responsibility in a system like this?
Columnist Peter Schrag is one of the most perceptive observers of California politics and government. He reminds us that "direct democracy" is open to the same sort of domination and manipulation by moneyed interests that normal candidate elections are:
The initiative experience has taught well-funded interest groups and individuals with deep pockets that the $2 million it usually costs to get something on the ballot may be the best and cheapest way to make your influence felt. And it created what became known as the "initiative industrial complex," the burgeoning profession of campaign consultants, pollsters, commercial petition circulators, media experets and direct-mail operatives who manage the state's new politics.
He also notes that "the same instruments of direct democracy" that gave Schwarzenegger his shot in Sacramento "have also combined with other constitutional restrictions to make virtually every California problem more difficult for him to solve."
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