Our Dash in California
by Morgan Dash

California is a nation within a nation, large and wealthy enough to go a long way to solving many of its own problems, yet for that same reason feeling the ups and downs of the America to which it is appended more powerfully than almost any other state.

California's state budget crisis is having effects as severe as anywhere in America, and more severe than many other states. Layered on the national insanity is a political system that often bypasses both the barriers and institutional consistencies of representative government with single issue ballot measures that reflect the natural if moronic desires of Californians (as expressed in a recent poll) for lower taxes and more government spending.

Now mandated through the similar petition process, California will hold the first recall election of its governor in history. This comes when the California budget is still not passed, while millions of people are directly and indirectly affected by the expected cuts that have not yet been officially made (and thousands who are paid through the state are facing dramatic loss of income if the budget isn't passed very soon.)

The recall petitioning and politicking by the rabid right has already diverted attention and serious engagement in the process of dealing with the realities of state income and outflow. The upcoming recall campaign will mean much more politics and much less government, and therefore more chaos and neglect.

The recall campaign also offers governor Gray Davis the opportunity to go on a dramatic offensive, to talk sense about the total political system in the state, and to propose comprehensive reforms. The seeds of this approach are in his budget document itself, which catalogues the absurd and contradictory mandates of the ballot measure system. He has the opportunity to be heard on what the state really needs to do to make the state government work for California's people: To propose needed reforms of the system, to talk in graphic detail about the responsibility of the Bush administration for this crisis, and to propose how California can take advantage of its size and wealth to institute solutions to its people's most pressing problems, regardless of what the federal government does. At the top of this agenda should be a state financed comprehensive health insurance program that guarantees coverage to all Californians.

Gray Davis is widely believed to be excessively political, self-serving and insensitive to the needs of Californians. And that's just among his supporters. He may believe that he can survive a recall election with relative ease, but that may not be the case. If Richard Rioardan is his chief Republican opponent, he is in for a very tough fight. Even Arnold S. has the potential to draw enough votes, especially if he comes out strongly for support of the arts and adds that constituency to those who would vote for him because he's a Republican or a "non-politician" celebrity.

So Davis may decide that the best political move is to shatter his gray image with bold analysis and proposals. If he does and if he can do it with some effectiveness, California and the nation will benefit from the ensuing debate.

By the by, in the interest of family unity I remind you that brother Gabriel continues his archival verse project over at http://gabrieldash.blogspot.com.