California's Constitutional Convention: The Spirit of the Founders Visits the Golden State

Abstract

THE CALIFORNIA Journal of Politics & Policy Commentary California’s Constitutional Convention: The Spirit of the Founders Visits the Golden State Steven Hill* New America Foundation “Are you ready to put on your white wigs?” That question increasingly is being posed to many everyday Californians, as the Golden State considers if a constitutional convention composed of regular folks might hold the solution to California’s ongoing political and budgetary woes. With state government in Sacramento seemingly frozen in place, a group of California leaders formed RepairCalifornia.org and have filed a voter initiative to www.bepress.com/cjpp Volume 2, Issue 2, 2010 create a constitutional convention to address the state’s deeply entrenched structural problems. But this would be no ordinary convention. Just over half of the 460 or so participants would be “citizen delegates,” regular people who have been scientifically selected to convene a broad cross-section of California. The rest would be delegates appointed by local government officials. This innovative hybrid would attempt to meld the expertise of people with policy knowledge and political experience with the values of everyday Californians who are not concerned about their political careers or partisanship, but instead can focus on what’s good for their state. While Golden Staters have lost faith in their government and elected *Steven Hill is director of the Political Reform Program of the New America Foundation, and author of 1 0 Steps to Repair American Democracy (wwe.10Steps.net). His next book, “Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way is the Best Hope for an Insecure Age” (www.EuropesPromise. org), will be published by the University of California Press in January 2010.