In any conversation about or process for reforming our state's government, it's all too easy to get hasty and become hung up on policy outcomes that one wants or even that the state needs. One may even feel the urge to oppose the movement to convene a constitutional convention out of trepidation about one's priorities possibly being neglected or harmed. But, as David pointed out:
Jim Wunderman of the Bay Area Council has said that everything within government should be on the table, which worries some that a Pandora's box will be open, an opportunity to mess with fundamental rights. First of all, that's the case right now, as last November proved.
Beyond that, there's a process for doing a constitution "right," if we can popularize the main principle behind it and cement it in any forthcoming convention charter. The process can assuage the fears of those who stand to lose something that they have in the current Constitution, while still ensuring we can address those issues under the new constitution in a manner representative of the citizens' views. That is:
- Confine the scope of any new constitution to matters of rights, of structure and mechanics of government, and of powers both granted and limited.
- Set apart everything in the existing Constitution that falls outside this scope, everything that pertains to policy rather than what is foundationally structural, and include in the ratification of the new constitution enactment of all of that policy as regular law.
That way we can focus on the structure-of-government issues, majority rule, provisions to thwart tyranny of the majority where merited, and so forth at the constitutional convention. Then we can address policy matters such as taxes, budgetary allocation, administration policies, and the like in the regular legislative process, as it should be under a republican form of government, all the while minimizing the disruption of governance as we citizens reassert our rightful power. Specifically, don't repeal Proposition 13 property tax policy, Proposition 98 education funding policy, et cetera at the convention — keep them as ordinary law, and in so doing, make them subject to majority rule in the regular legislative process.
This approach presupposes the extinction of the two-thirds rule as well as reform of the initiative and referendum processes, though those matters will be topics the convention must address in any case. This approach may thwart anti-democratic blank slate-ism that shock doctrinarian opportunists could seize upon. |
