A Depressing California Governor's Race

In an interesting rundown in the Los Angeles Times, Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine write that Gavin Newsom's withdrawal from the California Governor's race in 2010 has deprived the race of any candidate calling for sweeping reform. In a way, it's a bit depressing - Newsom was the only declared Democratic candidate, and the only one calling for a Constitutional Convention and sweeping reform. Attorney General (and former governor) Jerry Brown, while an undeclared candidate, has done little to ask for any sort of sweeping reform, merely suggesting that he'd navigate the special interests better. None of the Republican candidates suggest changing the governmental structure, all are calling for some form of tax cuts and spending reductions.

Unfortunately for California, none of this is enough. Governance via initiative has failed. Term limits have failed. Limits on property tax increases (Proposition 13) has failed. Supermajority limits on state spending budgets has failed. California's government has failed. It's gridlocked. Because of the supermajority requirements, it's unable to actually provide the services that California needs because Republicans oppose the taxes needed to pay for them, and it is unable to cut anything the Republicans want because the Democrat control the legislature, just without a supermajority. This has been a recipe for a failed government.

Perhaps California needs to devolve its government down to the local level, so that local governments can provide the services that people need, and taxes across the state could be lower, but that's impossible without the governmental structure at the state level changing to allow that. In the end, California needs a fundamental change. Without it, it will continue its slide to a government that doesn't accomplish anything, doesn't tax enough to pay its bills, doesn't provide the services the citizens want, and continues to drag California down.