A California Republican

Most Californians - especially those in the Legislature and elected office - would wish 2008 had never happened. There has been severe economic decline and a huge - and growing - budget deficit. There have been extra burdens on the unemployment rolls due to the economic downturn, and housing prices have fallen - leaving many in upside down mortages.

You might ask why I don’t mention those who have lost their houses…well, I don’t feel too much sorrow for them. Those are people who got into bad loans - and knew they were bad loans. Or should’ve read the papers they were signing. There is a golden rule of signatures - always read what you sign before you sign it and if you don’t understand it, don’t sign it. The people who lost on their mortgage gambles knew they couldn’t afford those houses, but did it anyways, gambling that they could sell or make more money before the payments went up. So although many people are left without a house, they can still have a home in an apartment.

But in this age, our issues in California are not improving. California is not a fine wine that improves with age.

The issues of water supply and environmetal quality and transportation and education are in horrid spots. California has done nothing to improve these. And when you do nothing, you get left behind.

So what do we need to do? We, as Californians, need to find a solution to the economic problems. Our tax structure needs to be redone so that it is less volitile…and the budget structure needs to be redone so that the politicians won’t spend the windfalls and create even more budget problems.

This mess has led California’s voters to overhaul the way redistricting is done in California. This may be a sign that voters are recognizing that the political structure of California is broken.  As Einstein said - continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result is the essence of insanity. It is possible that this year has brought the California voters to recognize what insanity is, and that we need to change to avoid it.

A contitutional convention is also in the debate. At least a constitutional convention to overhaul California’s government is in the political, acemic and media circles. In order for this to happen, the general populace is going to have to get involved too.

The alarm clock has rung. Californians are waking up to realize that we have big problems and that the elected officials aren’t solving them.

But will this carry over into 2009 and into actual reform? That’s the big question.