More on "Campaign Finance Reform"

State Assembly members Alan Nakanishi, Roger Niello, Dave Jones and Lois Wolk are part of the lucky anointed on this year's ballot. They face little or no competition; nonetheless, they are raising boatloads of campaign cash...With the exception of Wolk, none of these incumbents faces an opponent who has raised more than $1,000. Darrell Steinberg, who has stuffed $407,932 in his campaign reserve for his anointed Senate seat, also faces no real opposition...Once again, California is participating in a mockery of democracy. After the last census, the party bosses carved up legislative districts to ensure that Democrats would have their strongholds and Republicans theirs. The only mystery in this cartography is which candidates the party bosses will select to fill these safe seats. No wonder the California electorate has become so apathetic and cynical....Mockery of Democracy, Editorial, The Sacramento Bee, 11/3/2006

It's not just redistricting that does it. It's also the fraud of campaign finance reform. As this and a thousand other stories document, reform has meant, by and large, a further guarantee of career opportunities for elective office, what used to be a considered a contradiction. After all, we used to think, if you're going for elective office, you have to fight to get your ideas across against someone else doing the same thing. If elective office is guaranteed, however, where will the debate take place, in the streets? The history of governments with guaranteed offices is not a happy guide to answering this question.

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