For a couple of years the fact that California is ungovernable has been plain to see to anybody who really pays attention.  That is why you get calls for a constitutional convention from business groups like the Bay Area Council and from progressive groups like the Courage Campaign.  We need fundamental change in our constitution. We need to fix the initiative system and the restore the underlying balance of power that should exist in a modern representative democracy.

Today we get a slew of articles in the mainstream media, saying, that well, perhaps California is ungovernable. Follow me over the flip.

But California government is arguably more dysfunctional now than it was when Davis, a Democrat, got the boot. The budget deficit has grown so huge that a shutdown of government services looms. Partisan gridlock grips the Legislature, and lawmakers bicker as the state plunges into crisis.

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The state’s latest collision course with insolvency has renewed the question in the Capitol: Has California become ungovernable? (LAT 12/15/08)

When Arnold used the recall system to bulldoze his way into power, he promised to “blow up the boxes.” Not only has not blown them up, he’s discovered that they contain some nice goodies inside.  His cynical use of the vehicle license fee created the massive deficit and he has totally lost the legislature.  While many can dispute Davis’ effectiveness, it becomes increasingly clear that even he did a better job that Arnold.

So was the recall worth it?  Well, it seems there are a few people who got over it:

“I was thinking that we needed to do something before the ship totally sank,” the 35-year-old postal carrier said last week as she ended her shift at Yuba City’s downtown post office. A Republican, Shaffer voted to recall Democrat Davis and replace him with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. For a time, she was pleased with the new GOP governor, who made vague but vivid promises to transform Sacramento and the way it operated.

“Now it just seems either the system got to him or he just gave up and has gone with it,” Shaffer said as evening fell on the northern Sacramento Valley. As for the recall, she said, “I don’t think that it made a difference, because we’re still in the same boat we were in then, only worse.”(LAT 12/15/08)

To say the least. Back then we had a somewhat trivial budget deficit in comparison, and we were able to quickly eliminate it by repealing the “good times” VLF cut. Now, well, I think we all know there is no easy solution.  Arnold’s “car tax” rhetoric pretty much ended any chance for that.

As Dave pointed out, there is a semblance of momentum for some serious change in Sacramento.  With leaders like Steinberg and Bass willing to push reforms that actually aim to fix the government, it might be time to seriously look at how we can do to create some long-term good government solutions.