The Sunday Muse, Memorial Day Edition

Random clippings from this week's news:

Business/The Economy

Wall Street: This is what happens when a political party devoted to small government and lax regulation is in charge:

The Securities and Exchange Commission abandons investigations for lack of resources, allows corporate wrongdoers to skip fines and drops cases because of a bureaucratic culture of risk aversion, according to a recent federal report...

The report raises questions about how well the SEC can do its job protecting investors with such glaring deficiencies.

The number of SEC enforcement attorneys declined 11.5 percent from 2004 to 2008 while cases were closed prematurely or not investigated at all, the report says.

Although a wide range of cases is pursued, "one attorney told us of closing several cases that were promising but which could not be pursued for lack of resources," according to the report.

With such lax oversight, how can investors and American taxpayers regain the confidence in the financial system necessary to revive the global economy?

Detroit: It was once unthinkable, but now seems inevitable.

Capitol Hill: The Roberts Court does corporate America's bidding.

Science/The Environment:

Has anyone checked the temperature in hell lately?

Republican talking heads, full of hot air and blinded to science.

Politics:

GOP 2012: In the race to crazy that is the GOP nomination fight, Sarah proves she's still in the game.

Education:

The Golden State's tarnished future: California's kids to pay the price for political failure. The draconian spending cuts now facing the state's school districts is an unconscionable abandonment of the state's children, it's most important resource.

Foreign Policy/Military Affairs:

South Central Asia: As President Obama goes "all in" in AfPak, I find myself wondering if anyone has clearly defined America's end goals in a region known as the graveyard of empires.

Capitol Hill: Disappointing the anti-war left that propelled them to power over the past two elections, a Democratic Congress passes another "no-strings attached" Iraq/AfPak war supplemental funding bill. But this year, it's a Democratic President who launched his national career as the anti-war candidate who receives the money. Was this the change we had in mind?

The Public in Favor of Impeaching Cheney/Bush

A poll released today by ARG shows the American voter has had enough of the corrupt Bush Administration's endless assault on the rule of law. Was the overwhemlingly unpopular Libby Liberation the proverbial last straw?

According to ARG, 69% of voters disapproved of the commutation, with only 26% approving. This represents the hardcore GOP base, which appears to be shrinking with the release of every poll.

As to for the dreaded "i" word, 50% of voters support impeaching the FourthBranch (that's the Vice President for those not paying attention over the past month) with 46% in favor of impeaching Dubya. Will the Democrats finally listen to the will of the people?

Question:
Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney?

7/5/07	Favor	Oppose	Indecided
All Adults	54%	40%	6%
Voters	50%	44%	6%
Democrats (38%)	76%	24%	-
Republicans (29%)	17%	83%	-
Independents (33%)	51%	29%	20%

Question:
Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush?

7/5/07	Favor	Oppose	Undecided
All Adults	45%	46%	9%
Voters	46%	44%	10%
Democrats (38%)	69%	22%	9%
Republicans (29%)	13%	86%	1%
Independents (33%)	50%	30%	20%

Compare the public polls regarding impeachment of Clinton during the L'Affair Lewinsky - and it's not even close. (h/t to Ana over at Time's Swampland blog) Back in 1998, only 25% of the public supported impeaching Bill Clinton. The GOP in Congress ignored the polls and paid a price in the midterm elections. Will the Democrats ignore the polls and pay a political price in 2008?

CA Voters Are "Civic Illiterates"

Cross-posted at Daily Kos and Calitics

The May 2007 Public Policy Institute of California survey titled "Californians and Their Government" contains depressing data about the average voter's civic knowledge.

The press release accompanying the report states:

California voters admit to knowing little or nothing about some of the most critical policy issues they may be facing in next year's elections... This lack of knowledge concerning pivotal proposals, such as billions of dollars for new infrastructure bonds and changing term limits, could provide the margin of success for these proposals. Moreover, what voters don't know may be lulling them into a false sense of fiscal security at a time when the state's finances are still on shaky ground.

According to the survey, Californians have a limited understanding of how the state raises revenue and disperses funds. And, a large segment of the population view bonds as "free money" unaware of the costs being passed on to future generations.

I see those numbers and wonder, "Is this good government?"

Despite this limited knowledge, California voters are routinely making budget decisions and issuing policy mandates through ballot initiatives.

Next year, Californians will likely be asked to approve over $43 billion in bonds for education facilities, prisons, water storage and other infrastructure (in 2006, voters approved $37 billion) and revisit our term limits laws. Currently, there are 25 state-wide initiatives in the pipeline for 2008.

According to the PPIC survey, many are relatively uninformed on the questions they'll be asked to weigh in on. Some findings from PPIC's polling:

Sixty-four percent of likely voters support Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to issue $43.3 billion in bonds to increase funding for education facilities, prisons, water storage, and other infrastructure projects.
Fifty-two percent of voters admit that they know very little (43%) or nothing (9%) about how bonds are paid for in California. Six percent say they know a lot.
The share of residents who describe the state budget as a big problem has fallen 29 points, from 73 percent to 44 percent, since May 2004.

With a majority of state voters admitting they do not understand how bonds are financed, it's easy to understand why our elected officials prefer putting bond measures before the voters over the much less popular alternatives - raising taxes or cutting programs.

Historical Background - The ballot initiative was instituted in California in 1911 as a Progressive Era reform designed to reduce the influence of corporate interests on the state legislature. According to a 2005 PPIC analysis of the history of direct democracy in the state:

Since the 1970s, California has come to rely heavily on direct democacy to make major policy decisions. During that time, the number of initiatives per ballot has almost tripled, and voters have used direct democacy to decide the fate of such issues as drug enforcement, property taxes, environmental regulation, bilingual education and affirmative action. Some observers have concluded that the initiative process is replacig the legislature as the most important law-making institution in the state.

Unquestionably, direct citizen involvement has allowed Californians to express their opinions and enact important progressive legislation. Many positive changes (from my point of view) have come from the initiative process - including groundbreaking environmental protections and stem cell research. Despite a growing sense of "election fatigue" among state voters, the process remains popular with a sizable majority of Californians today, according to the Public Policy Institute.

Out of Iraq Initiative - In fact, one of the more intriguing initiatives being proposed by State Sen President Don Perata, the ""Vote Us Out of Iraq"" ballot initiative is being debated in Sacramento today and will allow Californians to send an unprecedented message to our officials in Washington about the Iraq War. But, as elishastephens observed last week, the advisory measure is simply designed to allow voters to express their anger at the situation in Iraq.

Despite direct democracy's past success and ongoing popularity in the state, I believe the numbers in the May PPIC report are cause for concern.

The combination of an uninformed public and the willingness of elected officials to turn to the initiative process creates an opportunity for skilled and well-financed special interests to covertly advance their agendas. When the politicians "punt" the tough questions to an uninformed and disengaged electorate the likelihood of creating good policy is diminished.

Additionally, the almost exclusive reliance on television advertising as the communications tool used in statewide ballot campaigns reduces policy discussion to thirty second soundbites. Informed, intelligent debate becomes increasingly difficult as a result.

Initiatives work if the citizenry is knowledgeable about the issues and the process.

Right now, California's voters and elected officials are both coming up short.