305 / A Disease Of The Body Politic

As I got up this morning, and took a quick look at the final election results, I came to the conclusion that our "body politic" is being attacked from within.

Specifically, the passage of Proposition 26, here in California, will make it much more difficult for either state or local government to address the challenges of our time. Anything worth doing requires money, and Proposition 26 makes it almost impossible to raise the money needed to make the government work.

Our problems are largely "community" or "collective" problems, and we can address those problems (and can realize our opportunities) only through collective or community action; that is to say, through governmental action. But: we are fighting against ourselves, since we so much dislike the very government that represents us in our collective and community capacity that we take measures (like the passage of Proposition 26) that make it hard for government to function. By helping to disable and disempower government, we make it ever more difficult for government to function well. And that, of course, makes us dislike it all the more.

I think that this is just "autoimmune disease" in the context of politics. So, good luck to our new Governor!

The passage of Proposition 25, which restores "majority rule" for adoption of the state budget, will help Governor Brown and the Legislature provide the leadership we need, but the passage of Proposition 26, which goes in the exact opposite direction, is going to make the job tougher, for those people who would like to see California return to its glory days.

And doesn't that include just about everyone?