The Economist, sadly, made a text book case out of California. (Try click on link for the full article. Sorry that non-subscribers may not have access.) It feels like the worst case for a democratic political system.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association pushed through “three strikes” laws. Today, California spends more money on prison inmates than educating its young generation. The prison “industry” is thriving at the expense of the general population.
The voters, that’s you and me, want more services and not paying for them. Giving them ballot initiative power, what you end up is every special interest groups passing laws to guarantee their interests at the expenses of the entire society. Since the entire society eventually must absorb the sum of all those vested interest, it sinks.
California is interesting for one final reason. Throughout most of the West, people are in denial about the consequences of wanting both more government and lower taxes. In California ballot initiatives have actually given voters a direct say. Generally they have made government worse, protecting bits of spending yet refusing to pay for it. Having voted for Mr Schwarzenegger in 2003, they deserted him the moment he tried to introduce structural reforms in 2005.
Unfortunately, it also seems the entire United States is heading the same direction. If you look around the world, the gloomy outlook is that all democratic systems are moving toward the same direction, only in different paces.
Today, California is ungovernable. Would the USA be the same tomorrow?
Pingback: Ungovernability | Loud Thoughts