In case you missed it, a Bay Area group is proposing an initiative to call a constitutional convention to rewrite the state constitution. While most agree that the state needs reform, taxpayers should not conjure memories of the wise sages who crafted the nation’s foundational document. Instead (in the spirit of the season), this meeting would likely be less constitutional convention than Witches Coven, whose enchantments will deliver more tricks than treats.
Forget conjured memories of the wise sages who crafted the nation’s foundational document. This plan gives the state auditor despotic power to select the majority of delegates (240). Local elected officials select an additional 221 delegates, with four more representing state Indian tribes. This highly political process will conjure neither Madison nor Jefferson. Instead, this voodoo will summon the same ghouls who’ve brought the state to ruin.
This unholy gathering will produce more tricks than treats. Their enthralling promises (to limit their own power, to make state government “more efficient and effective”, to “[reduce] special interest influence”, and to “[revamp] the state budget system”) are illusions – sleight of hand. While Madison and Jefferson (whose clever devices fail us now) sought to limit government and protect freedom, these cunning tricksters have no such wishes.
Taxpayers should banish this phantasm from our midst, for it is just that – a fantasy disconnected from reality. We can conjure no quick fix to what ails California. Instead, we must wipe the sleep from our eyes and see the chains that bind us – an overlarge state government that is dominated by the overpowerful state worker unions who fight needed reforms. There can be no reform that protects taxpayers and freedom until we first break the powerful spell of these unions.
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