clavus

Every year it’s the same thing. The legislature spends the first half of the term doing next to nothing. They show up at the Capitol just enough to collect their per diem, then break to golf with lobbyists. Throughout the course of the legislative session, very little attention is paid to the actual governing of the state. A few bills pass into law, but these generally fall into one of two categories: 1) feel-good tripe (i.e. mandatory bike helmets for minors) or 2) rewards for bribes…er…campaign contributions (i.e. a new freeway offramp at a new Casino). Only at the very end of the legislative session does any “work” get done, and it is done poorly. Lobbyists write bills which are passed without analysis or debate. Logic defying schemes are made into laws. And the budget…dear God, the Budget. The single most important task with which the state government is charged; the fundamental blueprint for governing the state; the very cornerstone of everything, EVERYTHING else the Legislature does, is passed late. No real work on the budget even begins until after the deadline.

The process is a mess, because the men and women of the Legislature aren’t affected. The state is being driven into bankruptcy, but the individuals who put it there still get paid. Laws are passed with no long-term consequences in mind because there are no long-term consequences for the legislators.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have the solution. I say that we make it worth while to govern correctly. As propose that we pay every legislator in California a salary of $1,000,000 per year. The governor should get $2,000,000. In addition, legislators and the Governor will receive the salary for eight years AFTER they leave office.

What? Am I daft? Did I not just say that these miserable goldbrickers aren’t doing their jobs? Wait, fellow citizens, there is more.

I also propose that every two years, the voters determine how much of the salary the legislators get to keep. Every ballot will have the numbers 1% through 100%. Voters pick the percentage that seems appropriate and the average number is used.

If there are rolling blackouts, the highways are a mess and the Legislature is acting like a bunch of self-serving, vindictive dingbats, you can be sure that the voters aren’t going to approve more than a couple bucks. If the economy is doing fine, pollution is down, jobs are up and our government representatives are behaving like a group of professionals, they can expect to be handsomely rewarded.

Further, laws will be passed with an eye on the long-term. Short-sighted schemes like the “deregulation” of the electrical markets or workers compensation “reform” might garner a few extra bucks in our politician’s pockets at first. But later, when they fall apart like an Enron business plan, our legislators will find themselves waiting tables to make ends meet.

My plan will attract the right kind of people to run our state. I want ambitious people. I want motivated people. I want people who will run the state with the idea that if they do it well, they can make a lot of money. I want the best, brightest people competing for the job to run the state. And when they do, I want them paid handsomely for it.

The beauty of the system is that it pays for itself. If the country’s largest economy is run well, we can afford to pay its executives handsomely. If it is bankrupt, the voters have the power to end the fat paydays until things are turned around.

My dad always said that if what you are doing doesn’t work, try something else. I can’t imagine a system which has failed more spectacularly than the one we have now. Let’s try something else.

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Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.