How Golden State sank into budget morass

So how did it come to this - that powerhouse California, a nation-state of 33 million with a budget larger than most small countries, has again been brought to its knees in a life-or-death struggle for financial survival?

And just how familiar is this scenario?

Consider then-gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger lambasting California leadership over out-of-control finances - in 2003:

"Our elected officials in Sacramento are facing a budget crisis unseen in this state since the Great Depression, and it was entirely avoidable. ... Teachers are getting pink slips, cops are getting laid off and the taxpayers are facing an increase in taxes and California's future is in danger."

Six years later, under his leadership, it's deja vu: With the June 30 fiscal year deadline looming, the Legislature is frantically at work trying to close a $24.3 billion budget gap in the state's main bank account.

There are several factors that contribute to the state's recurring inability to deliver an on-time, balanced budget. Among them:

-- Partisanship: California's gerrymandered legislative districts protect incumbents and encourage more political extremes - Republicans on the right and Democrats on the left with less incentive to reach out to the political middle, much less compromise at the Capitol. [To his credit, Arnie tried to amend this with a state initiative establishing a three-judge panel to redistrict the state - but, and it's currently predominantly Democratic the union spent a few million of deceiving ads and we were again duped into defeating something that would have benefited the majority.]

-- Ballot-box budgeting: Initiative-loving Californians mandated set-aside funding for all kinds of single-interest issues, from education to stem cell research. [the system needs be reformed to exclude use by the government {now the predominant submitter of initiatives}, and serve only as a grass-roots tool.]

"It's not just the governor and the Legislature who have roles in this problem, but also the voters. "

[As long as we keep sending the same folks back they'll keep doing the same things. I.e., waiting us out and eventually blackmailing us with the disastrous consequences of not paying down the massive debts they keep running up - and we cave every time.

It's the spending. It must be rolled back wholesale. Then no more deficit spending; if the budget isn't balanced it's not legal.]

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