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Title: A constitutional convention? Is that cool or what? Well ... (California)
Source:
SacBee
URL Source: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story ... wxq=8535997#Comments_Container
Published: Mar 15, 2009
Author: David Holwerk
Post Date: 2009-03-15 12:52:30 by farmfriend
Ping List: *California list* Subscribe to *California list*
Keywords: None
Views: 154
Comments: 4
By David Holwerk, editorial page editor It's always dangerous to make predictions – just ask any of Bernie Madoff's clients or one of the top guys at Citi – but I'll make one anyway: There's a constitutional convention in California's future. Let me hasten to add that I had formed this opinion before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger embraced the idea of a convention last week. And I have formed it without the aid of any inside information. I haven't seen any unpublished polling or anything of that sort. I'm not privy to any secret political strategies. No, I'm basing this bit of public prognostication on nothing more than a gut feeling that this is the sort of opportunity that California voters – and the interest groups that dominate California politics – simply won't be able to resist. For voters, the appeal will lie in the fact that this is a Really Cool Idea. The longer I watch California politics, the more convinced I become that coolness trumps all in this state. Would Gov. Gray Davis have been recalled if he hadn't been so terminally uncool, particularly in comparison with the preternaturally cool Schwarzenegger? I rest my case. A constitutional convention, I suspect, offers an almost irresistible proposition: Hey, dudes and dudettes, let's have a party and fix things once and for all. Cool! There are obstacles, to be sure. At the moment, the only way to convene a constitutional convention is to get the approval of two-thirds of the state Assembly and Senate. (Does the mention of a two-thirds majority ring any bells?) But the Bay Area Council, the business group that has pushed the idea into public view, has a solution: Place two initiatives on the November 2010 ballot, one allowing voters to call a convention, the other authorizing a convention immediately. The prevalent political wisdom, I gather, is that the state's labor unions as well as other economic interests would oppose such a move in order to protect their current positions. I'm not so sure about that. Consider the choice that the various groups making up the education lobby would face. On the one hand, they could stand to lose the funding guarantees that voters put into the current constitution by passing Proposition 98. On the other hand, they have a lot of political muscle, maybe enough to write even more generous funding into a brand-new constitution. The same sort of prospect would appeal to law-and-order groups and environmental groups and – well, it's a long, long list. My guess is that in the end, the lure of big gains will be enough to attract a critical mass of interest groups to support the idea of a constitutional convention. Put their money behind a Really Cool Idea, and you can see why I'm making my prediction. Would this be a good thing for the state? There my crystal ball is more than a bit hazy. If the convention led to a more functional state government, it would be a good thing. But what if the state's current dysfunction reflects not just technical flaws in the state's constitution but a truly dysfunctional public? What if the convention decides to write into the constitution provisions on either side of same-sex marriage, abortion, gun rights or any other divisive social issues? Proponents of the measure say the scope of the convention can be limited. Well, maybe so, in theory anyway. In practice, though, I'm doubtful. If voters decide to throw this party, my guess is that they will want to throw the door wide open. Starting over, after all, is much cooler than just fixing a few things here and there.
Poster Comment: Mine seems to be the only decenting voice in the comments section. That's just sad.
David Holwerk: A constitutional convention? Is that cool or what? Well ...
dholwerk@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Mar. 15, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 6E
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#1. To: All, *Constitution Party*, *libertarians* (#0)
A Con Con is the worst idea they could have. What little protection we have in the State Constitution will be gone, including Prop 13 and any gun rights we have left! Plus they are setting us up for a national Con Con. Do we really want our Constitution to go away? All that non Constitutional stuff the government has done will be in the new one and set in stone. They are using the budget crisis to push this through. Beware what you ask for, you just may get it.
im with you, i wouldnt trust this nazi gun-grabbing abortionist bastard scum with anything. he wants to be president as boosh senior has suggested 'don't count arnold out'. (shiver).
Glory to God in the highest, and Peace to His people on Earth. Bingo..anyone touting a con-con IS a CON.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom.~~William Wallace ALAS, BABYLON
CON CON bad State Sovereignty good
"Controlling carbon is a bureaucrat's dream. If you control carbon, you control life." — Dr. Richard Lindzen, MIT Professor of Meteorology
#2. To: farmfriend (#1)
"I don't know where Bin Laden is. I truly am not that concerned about him"
George W, Bush, 3/13/02 http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html
#3. To: farmfriend (#1)
A Con Con is the worst idea they could have. What little protection we have in the State Constitution will be gone, including Prop 13 and any gun rights we have left! Plus they are setting us up for a national Con Con. Do we really want our Constitution to go away? All that non Constitutional stuff the government has done will be in the new one and set in stone.
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
#4. To: farmfriend (#0)
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