The same might be said of the appeal of Prop 8 to the CA Supreme Court today. While I vehemently opposed Prop 8 (check my back comments here), this is the wrong way to try to overturn it - with a transparent attempt to end run the voters to get the 'right' answer. The correct way is crafting a more palatable 'gay marriage' formulation, or persuasion.

This is the ultimate result of a big state. We've moved from the government being the servants of the people to the people existing for the purpose of paying government employees.

AL, do you actually support this sort of thing? Should government employees enjoy benefits vastly out of proportion to their qualifications and what they'd get in the private sector just because they are in iron-clad public-sector unions?

So much for democracy. And this is why a big government and a democratic government are opposed to each other.

We once had a governor who so wanted to expand medical care for the needy that he lobbied for its legislation. The legislature couldn't agree on many of the specifics, particularly where the money would come from, so they didn't pass it. The Governor created the program anyway, and stole the money from other appropriations.

In Illinois, this is called Article One of the Impeachment.

Me too on Tim Oren's comment. Rather hard to say that at Daily Kos, too.

Since the 70s, Californians having been trying to use ballot initiatives to fight back against the political class and the statist judges who protect the political class.

Meanwhile they continue to elect people like Villaraigosa, so the foot in their butt is their own. Thank God for medicinal marijuana.

The problem in CA is the the Dems are owned by the civil-service unions and the Reps are owned by Central Valley bible-thumpers who are eternally on the hunt for RINOs to kill over abortion. Also, term limits means that Legislature is dominated by US Congress wannabes who don't have a clue.

After watching CA collapse, I've become an un-fan of term limits. I'd rather have better districts so more districts are genuinely competitive, and hopefully some new leadership in the CA Republican Party.

Direct democracy doesn't work. If Californians were truly concerned they'd elect people that agreed with what they want. At least when they can figure that out, and its not contradictory. Which is seldom.

Point being, you get the government you deserve. And that applies to all of us. More's the pity.

The problem is the people aren't presented with what they want. The Republicans are non-competitive in much of the state, the Dems are union tools, and third parties are a waste of time.

Representative democracy isn't looking real good either. The biggest problem is simply that few people pay much attention to local politics, and don't have a clue about who these people are when they run. This is a particular problem in California since so many people are immigrants (either from other parts of the US or other countries) and community roots are rather shallow.

I'm often the only native-born Californian in the Silicon Valley startups I work at.

I often wonder what is the difference between California and Texas. Our electoral demographics aren't all that different, but our politics are hugely different. And frankly Texas looks awfully attractive right now in comparison.

Hopefully, AL will come out with the post he promised where he defends the budget deal. He appears to have more connection to various Sacramento types than I do, and there are very few blogs that discuss California politics at any level beyond silly rants.

I often grump about moving elsewhere, but I'm too much the native Californian to leave. I also have deep professional ties here, so I'll stay and go down with the ship. But I'd rather see sanity discovered and have the ship fixed. Maybe shaming the State politicians and bureaucrats with unfavorable Texas comparisons will help them to pull their collective heads out of their heinies.

"Representative democracy isn't looking real good either. The biggest problem is simply that few people pay much attention to local politics, and don't have a clue about who these people are when they run."

Isn't that an indication that representative democracy is working fine? If the people are making a rational choice that they just don't give a crap what the government is doing to them, who are we to say they are wrong? We are going to reap what we sow.

The politicians, after all, are the sum of all our will (or lack thereof). I think Conservatives are in a terrible intellectual shambles right now partially because of a loss of the perspective of what is inherent in throwing yourself across history and yelling stop. You are going to lose most of the time. The car is going to go off the road before people call for your help. And then once your principles reestablish prosperity, the cycle will begin again. Thinking it can be any different is the fallacy.

And the trap is trying to get people to buy into you or 'like you' during the golden days before the inevitable crash. Specifically by abandoning your principles, either to become 'liberal-lite' or out of sheer greed and self-interest in becoming a DC pork purveyor. Sadly, time spent in Washington makes this process pretty much inevitable.

Conservatives will always be the Cassandras of the world, and will always be left to pick up the pieces. Obama is going to leave a lot of pieces to be picked up at this rate. Lets hope Humpty Dumpty will fit back together, and that the kings horses and men arent taxed and spent out of existence in the interim.

"I often wonder what is the difference between California and Texas."

I don't know anything about California's constitution, but ours makes the Governor weak, the Legislature only meets every other year, except for special sessions; it's so specific that an amendment is required pass any significant legislation. Keeps the inmates from controlling the asylum.