Thread by @ezraklein

In California, vaccinations are going well (10th in the nation!), COVID cases are down, there’s a $76b surplus, the economy is booming.

So what’s dominating our politics?

A recall election most Californians oppose to oust a governor we mostly like. nytimes.com/2021/07/08/opi…

The danger here is the recall could win. Not because recalling Newsom is popular. 57% oppose it. But those who favor it are paying much more attention.

We could end up with Gov. Caitlyn Jenner because most Californians ignore this as a distraction. ppic.org/blog/voter-ent…

This speaks to a larger problem in CA governance: A host of ideas meant to give the people more control over the government that have, over time, decayed into avenues organized interests use to get their way.

For instance:

Or take the California Environmental Quality Act:

This is a big part of our housing crisis. We've created endless veto points where citizens and interests can gather to stop the government from doing things. But the people who show up to these meetings and dominate these processes are the ones defending what they already have.

The Democratic Party is partly the New Deal legacy, which believes in the power of government to do big things.

It’s also partly the Progressive/New Left legacy, which feared (rightly) the capture of government by business and tried to curb its powers to act.

This is part of why governance in California is often so disappointing to liberals: even as Dems dominate in elections, the way power is structured in the state is designed to make it hard for government to act, and easy for interests to veto.

More here: nytimes.com/2021/07/08/opi…