One particular paragraph in the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's memoir, True Compass, jumped out at me; although it deals with the U.S. Senate, it bears directly on what Californians are mulling over these days.

Kennedy wrote, "I think of the withering away of collegiality and sense of collective mission as the corruption of the Senate.  I don't mean corruption in a legal sense; rather I mean corruption in the sense that things are broken."

Kennedy argued that the "breakdown has been driven primarily by two factors." First," there are forces that actually do not want the Senate to meet and be active in the affairs of the nation...second is the distorted influence of money and the power of vested interests in the legislative process."

Kennedy's observation got me thinking about the question: "How can we move toward solutions to California's own broken system?"
First of all, reformers have got to look beyond governmental institutions; they've got to stop focusing on-and limiting change to--mechanical solutions.

There's no magic in campaign financing reform. It hasn't cleaned out the stables yet. The late California Democratic fund-raiser, Dwayne Garrett, observed that "political money is like water running downhill. It will find its way around any obstacle to get to the bottom."

There is no magic in a one-house legislature. I've watched Nebraska for decades-a unicameral doesn't equal harmony. Factions erupt-and stall legislation--even in so-called non-partisan bodies.

There's no magic in a part-time legislature. For those who argue that Californians who have to draw a salary elsewhere make better legislators, I have just one word, "Bribery." Now that's a nice supplemental paycheck! Remember the late lobbyist and self-styled "Governor of the Legislature, Artie Samish.

Proponents argue that the part-time legislature would return professional lawmakers to the status of "citizen-legislators." California's draconian term-limits were supposed to do that.  Instead, they've revved up a perpetual game of musical chairs among professional politicians.

There's no assurance that a part-time, "citizen legislature" would be more reflective of-or responsive to--the state's diverse population.

Pre-Prop. 1A-which established the full-time legislature, the State Capitol was heavily populated by lawyers and others whose occupations were flexible enough-or their bank accounts fat enough--to allow them to take months off from their "real jobs."

Even if California succeeds in establishing a part-time legislature, it will NOT succeed in abolishing the full-time body. We could return to serial special sessions (Oh, wait! We're already there!)

          That's the way things worked before the late Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh, as part of a major constitutional revision in 1966, pushed for a full-time legislature, as recognition that a part-time body no longer actually existed. What Prop. 1A did, Unruh argued, was merely institutionalize an already de facto full-time body.

The initiative process clearly needs reform. But again, I'm convinced its real problems are not simply mechanical.
I don't think abolition of the initiative is politically realistic; it's been part of the ethos of California for too long. And polls show that Californians like it.

Real initiative reform requires that Californians understand that there's no such thing as a free lunch. You can't decide to micromanage government and then expect elected officials to be accountable for cleaning up afterwards.

Then, there's that mystical silver bullet, the Constitutional Convention. For those who insist the ConCon's agenda can, legally, be limited to narrowly drawn topics, I have three words: "Town Hall meetings." Just try to control the agenda-limit the debate--for activists with other ideas.

It is folly to rely merely on systemic reform, on tweaking the mechanics of governance. I have always believed-and will continue to believe-that any system is only as good as the people who inhabit it.

And that leads me to my response to our question: "How can we move toward solutions?"
Three factors are crucial: communication; its close cousin, education; and leadership.

        I'm talking about honest communication by politicians to Californians-and by voters to elected officials, about the mess we're in and what we have to consider to get out of it. Just spell things out without the spin and vitriol. (But that requires mutual trust, doesn't it?)

And I'm talking about any communication at all on the part of a media fixated on the circus of politics to the exclusion of the substance of policy.
Of course, that assumes you can find any so-called mainstream media left that can-or want to-cover state government and politics.

Attitude-be it on the 24/7 cable nets, talk radio, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, in Congress or whatever-is everything. (These days we tend to listen to only what we want to hear, not what we "should" hear.)

Concerning education, it was the philosopher John Locke who complained that we teach children how to be carpenters or farmers-or any other trade-but we do not teach them how to be citizens. Indeed, in these days of dwindling educational resources and overburdened schools, it's hard enough to teach--period!

Perhaps the hardest reform engine to come by-let alone define, is leadership. The only way I can define it is: I know it when I see it. And I don't see it now.

Will there ever be the political will--the political courage--to face our state's crumbling physical, political, social, cultural and economic infrastructures and make the hard choices-and nurture the compromises (whatever they may ultimately be) necessary to govern?

This whole reform thing is not going to be easy; it's neither simple nor painless, and Californians shouldn't be conned into believing that it will be.   That's how voter distrust, cynicism and alienation take root.

The blue smoke and mirrors that have defined politics and government for so long are as responsible for the dysfunctional funk CA is in, as are our tanking economy, the on-going partisan gridlock, or the deep-seated voter distrust of government and politicians.

I'm not really sure how or whether we can move toward solutions to what ails California (anyway, first we have to agree on what does ail California), but we all-politicians, community leaders, media, academicians, citizens, activists, voters, Californians, everybody who cares about this state-have got to stop diddling around; take a deep breath, survey the terrain, put one foot in front of the other, and get on with it!