The Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. Ronald George, has denounced the state’s reliance on the referendum process to deal with many state issues.
He said too much direct democracy has hampered the ability of the state to deal with tax and human rights issues. Everything is resolved by voter participation, which sounds great in theory, but has in reality created dysfunctional government, and a massive government crisis on the state level never matched in US History.
Ballot initiatives have become so common as to paralyze the ability of state government to have any stability, and “direct democracy” needs to be curbed so that state government may have more ability to deal with issues, such as the budget and gay rights.
A conference is being held to deal with constitutional reform, with one of the key changes needed being to end the two thirds requirement to raise taxes, which has placed California in a straitjacket atmosphere, which makes one wonder why anyone would want to be governor of California after Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves office at the end of 2010.
To Whom it May Concern,
while most commentators on Strauss v. Horton were outright negative I offer a more analytic approach in an article on “Constitutional Nominalism” in the California Supreme Court’s opinion that just appeared in The Journal Jurisprudence – a small but vital Law Journal. The article can be read online under:
http://www.jurisprudence.com.au/juris6/kupka.pdf
Best regards
Thomas Kupka