MIS-INFORMING THE ELECTORATE - THE INITIATIVES OF 2016

"The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate." . . . “An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy.”- Thomas Jefferson

I just received my “Official Voter Information Guide” for the November 8, 2016 election. It is 220 pages of print about the ballot propositions, which are numbered 51 through 67. That is 17 proposals for changes in California law.

The changes included the extremely serious — whether to the eliminate the death penalty (62) or facilitate quicker executions (66); place more limits on firearms (63); modify the parole system to emphasize rehabilitation (57) . . .

. . . The usual range of tax measures: school bonds (51); medi-cal hospital fee (52); revenue bonds (53); tax extension (55); cigarette tax (56) . . .

A couple of measures that are controversial for special interest groups: English proficiency (58); political spending by corporations (59); state prescription drug pricing (61); . . .

And a few that involve social policy: marijuana legalization (64); adult film performer condoms (60); carryout (grocery) bag charges (65); and ban on plastic bags (67).

The book which was prepared by the California Secretary of State, contains a 9 page “Quick-Reference Guide” that sums up each proposal in a paragraph, with short arguments for and against. If that is not enough — and it certainly is not, considering the complexity and gravity of many of these measures — there follows (page 18-113) the Legislative Analyst’s supposedly objective estimate of the fiscal effects of each measure; detailed arguments pro and con by supporters and opponents.

Then there are a few pages giving an “Overview of State Bond Debt” and one with “Candidate’s Statements” by Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez, running for the Senate.

Page 118-222 includes the “Text of Proposed Laws,” the actual language of the statutory  and constitutional changes suggested by each proposition. It is in the fine print and legalistic language we lawyers love to use.

SO, this is democracy at its rawest. The People are asked to decide issues directly — no legislators or committees or councils intercede. In the Progressive Era during the early years of the 20^th century, this process was considered to be a necessary reform of a corrupt political system. For many years, federal, state and local legislatures, the judiciary, and executive offices, all were controlled by an elite group of power brokers: railroad and oil magnates, real estate tycoons, and political machines.

The chosen route to progressive reform was the Referendum, Initiative and Recall, that sidestepped the professionals and put issues directly to the voters.  

When I first arrived in California in the 1960’s, the processes mostly had fallen into disuse. The three branches of the political system seemed to be effective; it was an era of economic and population growth. The states infrastructure was new and a model for the country. Same with the education system — state colleges and universities were considered tops (and mostly tuition free). The El-Hi schools around the state were highly rated. Funding for the education system was based on local property taxes, on the social theory that local homeowners had a stake in the education of local residents. In the growing state, property values were rising each year.

But that caused a problem. A fellow named Howard Jarvis had been around for many years. He was one of many considered “tax kooks” who were always whining about the rise in taxes. Jarvis and others had often pushed for laws to limit taxes and spending. He got nowhere with the legislature and turned to the initiative process. Many times he was unable to get the necessary signatures even to get on the ballot.

But as real estate continued to boom, home prices soared, and as a result, people who had bought a modest home years before now found themselves in houses valued many times more, and had to pay taxes based on the theoretical market value.

In 1978, Proposition 13 passed with a two-thirds majority. It permanently altered the State Constitution to limit real estate taxes to less than 3% of market value.    

[Over time, the results have been disastrous. California schools have had to scrounge for funding. The state’s infrastructure continues to decay. In personal terms the inequity is shocking. If you bought your home before 1978 and stayed in it, you pay the same minimal property tax although the value of your house has skyrocketed. Your new neighbor who just bought the house next door must pay many times the property tax you do.]

The floodgates opened after Proposition 13. It has been used for many other things than tax reform. Due to a series of measures that constituted a wish list for prosecutors, draconian criminal laws are now in place. The result is the most crowded death row in the nation, the largest prison population in the American history, and a justice system that makes it more likely to convict the innocent.

The state legislature is considered by many to be a sick joke. Term limits — Prop140 in 1990 — eliminated anyone who understood how laws and government worked. It put the state government firmly in the hands of lobbyists and powerful interest groups who had all the information at their fingertips and the passion to push their agendas. In 2012, another initiative (Prop 28) had to be passed to reform the reform by extending limits to 12 years in offices.

One look at the 220 page book makes the problem clear. People don’t understand what they are voting for. They certainly don’t read this book. For most people their first view of the measures is while examining their ballot while voting. That is why proponents of measures take great pains in titling their proposals: “The Victim’s Bill of Rights” is one of my favorites. Who could possibly vote against that, no matter what it contained (including things you might not approve if you read it).

That leaves it up to advertising to “inform” the electorate. The 30 second ads that inundate the air and now social media prod us one way or the other with dire warnings or utopian promise for each proposal. If you are quick and sharp-eyed you might see the underwriting in fine print . . . “paid for by Americans For . . . (or against) . . . ”

Here’s a sample of the current pushers from the Quick-Refence Guide:

Many begin “Californians for . . .

Eg: “. . . for Quality Schools”

“. . . to Protect Local Control”

“. . . For and Effective Legislature”

“. . . For Hospital Accountability . . .”

“. . . For Budget Stability”

“. . . For English Proficiency”

“. . . for Lower Drug Prices” vs. “. . . Against the Deceptive Rx Proposition”

“. . . Aganst Waste”

At the end of the legislative analyst’s pages for each measure, web sites are named that might lead to the discover the “top 10 contributors” to the measures.

These give you clues to aid your decision making. For example, Prop 53, “Revenue Bonds,” requires statewide voter approval to sell more than $2 billion in bonds. Supporters call it the “Stop The Blank Checks Initiative.” The “Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association” is one of its spokesgroups. Opponents include “Firefighters” and “Sheriffs” Associations who want continued local control over funding for infrastructure and capital improvements.

The arguments pro and con (and rebuttals to each) are included in mostly conclusionary mini-essays.

Generally, you are given enough information to at least get a sense of who is pushing and who is pulling, and why. But is it a better way to decide this issue than representative government?

If this was before the state legislature (Senate and Assembly) committees made of elected representatives of the voters from each community in the state would consider it by hearing and questioning witnesses for and against, comparing the evidence, fitting it into the other fiscal and policy considerations they deal with. They would ask constituents for opinions, would see where the money is most needed and where wasted.

That is how it is supposed to work. We know that it hasn’t lived up to ideals, not by a long shot. But look what we have now. We are at the mercy of the manipulative nature of advertising by the very special interest elites that the Initiative process was intended to protect us from. It adds to the polarization of voters: automatic knee-jerk reaction: against any taxes or spending for anything . . . and then complain about how education fails and the potholes and the broken water lines . . . basing justice reform on anecdotal evidence — a drug dealer gets off in Sacramento . . . so change the state law that has worked for years and incarcerate a generation of young men with no hope . . . until we might pass another initiative when we finally wake up.

"THE FUTURE IS WHERE WE WILL SPEND THE REST OF OUR LIVES" ... CRISWELL

THE FUTURE IS HERE

When I was young and thought I was going to hell along with the rest of the world unless I worried about it, I survived by making a list of my worries. I found that micro fears (personal worries, such as cancer) paled before my many macro horrors (eg: nuclear fallout).

Yet, even in a really bad year for macro trouble (e.g., 1968) my imagination faltered after listing so many ills, resorting to minimal angst about things like UFO's. There may not be any more items on the macro list today than there were in 1968 but they seem worse because so many of these problems appear to be intractable.

Even in the depressing ‘’60’s” when assassinations, wars, crime, racial strife, were rampant, there was still a sense that we “shall” eventually “overcome” the problems. Today we are justified if we are far more pessimistic.  So many of today’s problems have passed the event horizon: the point of no return. They are too complicated to be solved. 

Here are some examples — not necessarily in order of importance or insolubility: 

The boomer generation scourge. The most entitled and largest generation in American history is about to use up all the remaining resources that they haven't yet sopped up. By continuing to live, they (we) endanger the prosperity of our children and grandchildren, who reasonably believe that they will be denied the chance for prosperity because of us. 

Climate change: Some scientists suggest that climate change has reached the tipping point and that the earth’s ecology is beyond repair. In the U.S. one of our two major political parties (the one that currently – and for the foreseeable future – controls the Congress, and almost all of its presidential candidates, deny that it is a problem at all. The influence of wealthy anti-environmentalists is too powerful to be overcome. Even if we were willing to sacrifice in order to solve this problem, emerging nations in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere would not. Thus, a solution is hopeless.

Gun violence in the U.S. The will does not exist to reduce or even limit the amount and type of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of almost anyone living in this country. The Supreme Court’s decision broadly interpreting the Second Amendment and the power of the NRA mean that any meaningful limit on weaponry is impossible. The federal government is handcuffed and state laws are ineffectual as long as neighboring states don’t care.

Use of excessive force by local police officers. Perhaps related to the availability of weapons almost as much as profiling that inevitably involves race- and ethnic-based stereotypes, patrol officers in local departments fear the public they serve. Fear breeds contempt; authoritarianism breeds arrogance and anger on both sides. The institutional norm of militaristic unity leads to the code of silence among brothers in arms (and this usually crosses race and gender lines within the department). Coupled with inherent pro-police bias by prosecutors, judges (usually former prosecutors), legislators (also frequently former prosecutors) and city officials, there is little hope of serious reform. Increasing militancy by racial minorities who feel victimized by police brutality and political impotence will encourage a violent reaction (probably more serious than the Black Power / separatist movement of the 60’s).

Permanent underclass that is underemployed, uneducated, hopelessly mired in poverty. Urban and suburban police (the borderline in our megacities is blurred) are dealing with communities (ghettos) in which all the common ills are rampant and by now, have existed for decades. Schools in these areas have been poor for generations. This is particularly true in a sizeable percentage of the African American population, unable to assimilate into the mainstream of middle class culture. The concept of “upward mobility” that has been a myth of American exceptionalism doesn’t apply to the permanent underclass.  

Permanent homelessness. When I returned from a trip around the world in July 1975, I saw for the first time men sleeping in cartons on the streets of downtown L.A. I had been in Calcutta a few months before and saw similar things. Today it is so common a sight on our streets that we ignore it. Public and private charities provide minimal life support and our mental health care and drug rehabilitation systems have failed to solve the problem.

Incompetence in our major institutions: education; health care; criminal and civil justice; religion; government services (veterans, taxes, licenses, etc.). I lump these all together because it all seems that, like the organs of a dying body, all of these systems are beyond reclamation. The beginning of the end for these institutions happened with the so-called taxpayer’s revolt at the start of the 1970’s in California. Conservative radicals used the initiative process (that had been a progressive instrument intended to override official corruption in the early part of the century) to defund state and local governments. Proposition 13 reduced property taxes that were the main source of funding for state and local government. That was its intent; and it worked. The trend is now permanent. The public demands lower taxes but more and better government services. Science fantasy.  

Economic decline: loss of high paying unionized manufacturing jobs that built the middle class. We will never get these jobs back from overseas, no matter how much demagogic politicians moan about it. Outsourcing assembly line work is needed for the multi-national corporate bottom line. Low paying service jobs in health care, food, retail, and other such industries are going to be the backbone of US employment from now on. The transition to “green” and “high tech” related employment is promised but very uncertain. Globalization is generally good for Asians and Africans who strive to join the developed nations, but the transition is going to be painful for all societies.  

Political polarization; voter apathy; electoral control by the wealthy. At the turn of the 19^th century, federal state and local governments were controlled by the moneyed classes and used mostly for their own benefit. Corruption was normal. Progressive reforms swung the pendulum to some degree. Unions became a voting bloc that, along with the second generation of immigrant families that came of voting age in the 1930’s, made the system work. Americans are rarely energized enough to vote in high numbers by comparison to other democracies. Most are apathetic, confused, cynical, detached from the process. Each major party generally has about 40% of the vote; the remaining 10% who call themselves “independent” sway one way or the other for complex unpredictable reasons, often relating to momentary concerns. They are easily manipulated by the news, prejudices, or transitory emotions. A few wealthy contributors can manipulate elections by focusing on these few swing voters in a few swing states.  

Drug crime. As long as there is a demand, the supply will continue in this very profitable trade. Legalization of marijuana may change the economics relating to that drug, but there will be others. Illegality will always be part of the lure. So, methamphetamines, opiates, and recreational drugs such as ecstasy and whatever pharma can conceive will surely continue to thrive.

Fanatical radicalism; turning to terror as a tactic by the powerless for political or religious purpose; willingness to kill and commit suicide for a cause. Some people have always been attracted to these powerful self-destructive and murderous ideas. Combined with the increased availability of weaponry, there is no reason to expect this will abate.

Israel / Palestinians. This is on the list because it is the oldest of the deadly feuds that threaten world peace. As long as Islam resents the very existence of a Jewish nation on this “holy land” and as long as Israel distrusts any treaty with a neighboring Palestinian state as a threat to its existence, this sore spot will continue to be explosive. It provides a stimulus to pan-Islamic militancy.

The U.S. Supreme Court. You can blame the mess of our foreign policy in the Middle East and Persian Gulf to the Presidents Bush. And you can also blame them for the mess that four appointees to the Supreme Court have made of the constitution. Of all the far reaching mistakes, these appointments may have the most devastating impact. Election financing, reproductive rights, voting rights act limits, second amendment ruling, capital punishment . . . just the start of the damage. 

Reapportionment: In 2010, Republicans took advantage of low voter turnout during mid-term elections to win majorities in state legislatures and governorships even in previous “blue” states such as Wisconsin. The Republican legislators gerrymandered congressional districts so as to assure continuing majorities in congress and state legislatures at least until 2020 when the next reapportionment will occur. Once in control of state governments, Republicans rolled back progress on funding for poverty, health care, education, reproductive rights, unions, environment, etc. They also passed voter registration laws to further repress the Democratic Party vote in the future. 

Religion is here to stay. Some who argue that the greatest source of evil in the world is “religion” have a point, but it is irrelevant. Whether as some suggest, we are hard-wired to seek spiritual guidance, it is clear humans are drawn to religious faith and many are strongly influenced by faith, even when contrary to evidence. Many will prefer religious teaching to scientific proof. Thus, evolution, climate change, gender, family, and sexual issues are all subject to religious tests for many and will always be.

 A free press will not save us. Jefferson’s dictum was that democracy would work IF driven by an educated and informed electorate. We have depended on news media to inform us. They have failed. Corporate infotainment in commercial media is pervasive, permanent, and irretrievably flawed. The old saw, “if it bleeds, it leads,” is revealing. Anecdotal emphasis on violent, highly emotionally charged events instills fear. A crime spree in Atlanta causes people in Los Angeles to buy guns and vote to toughen laws. Sound bites replace analysis, politicians and experts need to give instant, short, meaningless answers to complex questions.

Social media is an unreliable savior. More people today get their news thru their portable devices than from print or traditional broadcast media. The argument in its favor is that it is broader, less corporate dependent, and freer. Others counter that reporting is notoriously unreliable. Vetting of reporting for accuracy is spotty. There are no accepted standards for fact checking, no limits relating to taste, sensationalism, gossip, or bias. Still, the future belongs to social media and there is no likelihood that it will go away. The threatened suppression by governments of this source will not defeat it; it is too pervasive now.

Privacy is a diminishing reality. Governments will continue to monitor telecommunications on the basis of national security and crime suppression. Corporations will come under increasing pressure from governments to cooperate by turning over customer records. The battle between encryption and decryption is permanent. Cyber crime and cyber terrorism will increase in importance and be a part of life for the foreseeable future.

This depressing list is probably incomplete. But what all of the examples have in common is a sense that we have lost the ability to make progressive meaningful change at least for the foreseeable future.

As to the micro worries . . . it turns out that we were right to put cancer at the top of the list. In fact, we could have ended the list right there. Yet, now at this stage of life, my personal worries are too ordinary, numerous and omni-present to be reduced to any list. 

Maybe it is nature’s trick to occupy our minds with impossible conundrums while it destroys us from the inside. Clever.