Body building fans and others were no doubt disappointed to hear that Governor Schwarzenegger will not be speaking at the Republican Convention on fiscal responsibility and bipartisan decision making.

It seems that he feels slightly reluctant to attend the festivities when the California state budget is some four months overdue. Some of this sad and embarrassing tale has already been told here. Fans of squalor and cowardice can read the SF Chronicle for all the sordid details.

The basic story is this: Due to some quaint progressive era constitutional provisions, California requires a two thirds majority to pass budgets or tax increases. California Democrats are currently six votes shy of this majority. As a consequence state employees, doctors and hospitals who are paid by the state to care for the indigent and, ultimately, the entire state, can expect to be held hostage while a minority of the legislature poses for the folks back home.

So far the Republican minority has rejected Democratic proposals and Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal. Both of these contain a temporary, 1%, sales tax increase and require that the state seek voter approval for bonds that will finance the deficit by mortgaging future lottery revenue. The Republicans want no new taxes, more cuts and - here they follow their beloved president - more borrowing without voter approval.

This has been happening in some form or other for at least a decade and we should really take some time to understand the dynamic here. Our state's Republican Party has nothing to lose. Their constituents are largely from the central part of the state and tend to fancy that they are independent and do not need the government.

As long as the water projects continue to irrigate their farms and the prison industry continues to provide the less able of their neighbors with well paid jobs, they are fine.

With the two thirds majority requirement our Republican legislatures can secure the funding that they need for their people no matter what eventual compromise is arrived at. And there are further advantages to this deadlock: The longer the delay and the greater the cuts they force on the majority, the worse government works. This flatters their constituents and confirms their ideology. Everyone in the Central Valley goes home and pats themselves on the back for a job well done.

It is likely that the voters of California will face a special set of ballot propositions this November, mostly enabling the state to get even further into debt than it already is and granting the governor dictatorial power to cut spending. Wonks Anonymous would like to see our courageous Democratic legislatures - hope springs eternal but he is not holding his breath - put an amendment on the ballot to restore majority rule in budgetary and tax matters.

The current arrangement is just affirmative action for a party that has consistently failed to capture a majority of the legislature or to work out reasonable compromises with that majority.