Joe Mathews -- California crack up
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This a book for those who love policy analysis.  It contains
sections on (1) what is wrong, (2) how it got to be wrong, and (3)
lots of alternatives and recommendations on how to make it right.

One major and general way in which Mathews thinks California
government has it wrong is all the different ways in which the
constitution prevents lawmakers from doing their job.  This is
especially true with respect to the budgeting process.  There are
restrictions on spending, there are requirements that money *must*
be spent on specific needs, and of course, there are restrictions on
how revenues can be raised, importantly restrictions on raising
taxes.  Mathew's main point here seems to be that Californians
deserve the state government that they complain about because
they've done it to themselves.

I found that the sections on all the different ways that we might
re-structure our elections, in particular the ways we might elect
our legislators to be especially fascinating.  Mathews is especially
interested in two kinds of improvements: (1) Making sure that every
vote counts, that is that the proportion of legislators reflect
every vote and *not* that once a potential legislator obtains a
majority, all votes for other candidates do not matter.  And, (2)
ensuring that our voting system do a bit better job of *not*
favoring the extremes of the political spectrum and *not*
exacerbate the amount of partisanship and extremism in our
political system.

A college-level class that used this book as a basis for discussing
problems and improvements in our political system, at the California
state level and the U.S. Federal level, too, would be a sure win.

There are disturbing opinions circulating that democracy as a form
of government is in decline and that individual democracies across
the world are degrading.  Along with this comes the worry that
autocratic governments (in particular, some in the Far East) can
move faster, can plan and execute plans that reach farther into the
future, and are more competitive, in general.  It's heartening to
read Joe Mathews make a strong case for improving rather than
replacing our democratic form of governing.

05/21/2014

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