The talking points are the same this year as they were the last. And the year before that as well. “The Republicans are holding up the budget!!” cry the Democratic party leadership.
That is one way of looking at it. Another way is that what is going on in Sacramento is the fallout from a majority party that is simply too greedy. Not in money but in power.
Yes.. Democrats hold a large majority in the California legislature. But thanks to Howard Jarvis and the Prop 13 movement of the late 70’s the state is stuck with a law that requires a 2/3rds vote of the legislature to pass a budget or to approve a tax hike. We are only one of two states that require such a “super majority”. As a result the D’s need a few GOP votes.. and as long as Republicans remain in lock-step the minority party can block the will of the majority.
Frustrated Democrats blame “right wing Republicans” for the impasse. Lawmakers they argue are more interested in political orthodoxy than in facing the real and present problems confronting the state.
For the sake of argument lets say that is true. But where did these “right wing Republicans” come from? How did they get elected in a state that has for years been known as being politically moderate? And if the Republicans are too far to the right can’t it be also said that there are plenty of Democrats too far the the left? This is a legislature after all that routinely leads the nation in “progressive”.. or liberal legislation. These are lawmakers who believe government must play a major roll in nearly every aspect of society. Remember the anti-spanking bill? The ban on plastic bags bill? The socialized medicine bill? The Gay marriage bill?
The fact is the California legislature is simply too liberal and too conservative to serve a traditionally centrist state. The reason for the imbalance can be traced to the drawing of districts by the Democratic leadership to insure the Democrats control both houses. But in order for the Democrats to have a lock on the legislature they must round-up all the Republican areas of the state into the same districts. As a result most of the state Assembly and State Senate seats are dominated by one party or the other. There are no districts where there is enough of a balance between voters that the candidates must moderate their positions in order to placate voters from the other party.
So we end up with a legislature of ideologues with little chance of compromise on the budget, taxes or anything else.
One way to avoid the current mess is to get on with the business of re-drawing legislative districts. Failure to do so in the next election will insure that the government remains out of touch with the state it is elected to serve.
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