I continue to be struck by how little public discussion there has been of the revolutionary regionalist provisions of California’s Proposition 31. Those provisions set up a whole new layer of government above the local level, largely for purposes of transfering tax base from suburban municipalities to California’s cities. Proponents, when they talk about this aspect of Prop. 31 at all, claim the process is voluntary. Yet the initiative is structured in such a way as to bring significant pressure on municipalities to join these schemes to “share” municipal revenue.
Controversial as this is, Prop. 31 is so long, complicated, and filled with diverse provisions that the revenue-sharing scheme has been barely noticed or debated. This is no way to run a democracy.
Now Michael Anton has a thoughtful and heartfelt take on what Prop. 31 might actually mean for California up at City Journal. Californians, listen up.