When You Give a Child a Loaded Gun

Let me be clear here, the metaphor implies no adult supervision, I am not making a comment on children and their parents going to the shooting range, or enrolling a kid in a gun safety class, or going hunting with the kids.

In this case, the metaphor refers to California, where a juxtaposition of heavily gerrymandered districts, term limits, and a requirement for a 2/3 super-majority to pass any taxes, have handed a loaded revolver to the most wingnutty of 'Phants.

Seriously, when you combine the unbalanced districts with the super-majority, and then throw in a dash of "no respect for the legislature as an institution," because they are limited to 6 years in the statehouse, and 8 years in the state senate, and you have a heady brew.

The Dems, and Ahnuld Schwartzenegger, need to have a club to beat Republicans around the head and shoulders, I would suggest an out of cycle redistricting.

To avoid the appearance of impropriety, have as a requirement, "The length of the borders shall be the minimum practical," which means that the districts will be mathematically as contiguous as is possible.