CALIFORNIA WOES
(Friday) I realized this morning that I am actually feeling stress over the California political fiasco. I usually just let this kind of thing roll off like water from a duck's back. But I guess I'm just so annoyed with the system, the political options, and the politicians we have to work with (We have to figure out which of these bozos is going to do the least amount of damage) that I'm feeling it.

All of this makes me wonder how something like this affects the mental health of the state -- our collective state of mind -- to say nothing of productivity levels.

BTW, the Economist has good insight into what's happening (You have to look outside the country to find someone who is enough removed to read us with any level of objectivity). Sure the economy and the current governor's mismanagement of the problem has something to do with it. There is, however, an equally obvious explanation for Mr Davis's plight. Californians have become powerfully addicted to direct democracy: initiatives, which allow voters to pass their own ideas, or "propositions," directly into law; referendums, by which they can support or kill decisions from the legislature in Sacramento; and recall elections. Such measures are not unique to California (18 states have recall provisions, with North Dakota, in 1921, being the first -- and so far only -- one to recall its governor), but no state has used them so energetically. Since 1980 the electorate has been asked to vote on over 120 statewide initiatives, of which more than 50 have passed into law.

It's all a part of the Post-Prop 13 (1978) fallout. Not only did Prop. 13 under-cut the financial base of the state but it also started the direct proposition movement rolling -- where voters try to micromanage everything by direct initiative. This means that we keep reducing the tax options while legislating more expenditures. On top of that you need to have another proposition to overturn a proposition -- a near imposibility. I quit signing petitions years ago.

All of this nonesense is somewhat tolerable in good economic times. But once the economy slows down the noose we've placed around our collective neck starts to tighten. And when that happens people start to panic and do more irrational things (like a recall) and that tightens the noose even more. It's not a pretty sight.

Well, now that I've gotten that off my chest perhaps I'll sleep better tongiht.