The folks at the center of the universe, i.e. the NY Times, have discovered the sad state of California. Which Wonks Anonymous has been ranting about for some time. Well, if you read this blog, you could have told them about it a few months ago.

You see our quaint state constitution - a legacy of the "good government" types of the progressive era - requires a two thirds majority to pass a budget or increase taxes. The California Democrats are three votes short of a two thirds majority.

The problem is that despite massive concessions - relaxed labor laws and environmental regulations and earmarking of state spending to the districts of "moderates" -  the Democrats have won over precisely one Republican and the state still does not have a budget. People are being laid off, offices close once a week and our credit rating is worse than that of many banks.

The Times has the obligatory reference to the Democrats "some of whom lean far to the left" and Wonks Anonymous supposes that they might have a point. Indeed the position that a state should collect taxes and then use them to pay for education, welfare and other public services is quite far to the left of current Republican doctrine.

Meanwhile the Republicans angle for more concessions and the man of the moment is a Senator from the central coast, Abel Maldonado. Isn't that Spanish for poorly endowed or something? Wonks Anonymous quotes the story:

Democrats, who had already given into Republicans’ long-held dreams of large tax cuts for small businesses and for some of the entertainment industry and a proposed $10,000 tax break for first-time home buyers, balked at Mr. Maldonado’s request that the Legislature tuck a bill into the package that would allow voters to cross party lines in primaries.

“I think with an open primary, we would have good government that would do the people’s work,” Mr. Maldonado said.

Which is what they said about term limits, spending caps and the list goes on. When you are incapable of making the hard decisions needed to run a government you can always fall back of some half baked idea the that the political scientists have come up with. If we do this then we will have to behave like adults and not like petulant cynical children. But not before we do this.

Wonks Anonymous has a better idea. Repeal all super majority requirements in the California constitution. Now.