IV. The Barrier

Disconnect Between Citizens and Government

A majority of California citizens feel ignored and misunderstood by their state and local leaders. As the San Francisco Chronicle has editorialized: "The Public Policy Institute of California study also showed Californians' extremely low confidence in government is a source of resistance to long-term planning. Californians won't follow if they don't trust where their leaders are taking them."¹

Citizens see no incentive to go beyond the wishful thinking expressed by their desire for more and improved public services but at no increased cost. On the other hand, public officials feel overwhelmed by the various restrictions placed upon them, often the result of statewide votes. They see the public as demandingly unrealistic and often ill-informed.

Our system of government can't function properly unless traffic moves both ways on a two-way street:

• Citizens are obliged to be well informed, to engage in civil discourse with others, and to face up to the hard choices that are inevitably part of government
• Elected officials are obliged to listen respectfully to their constituents and to bring their best judgment to the process of making laws

At the moment in California, this vital traffic is not moving well in either direction.

These are disagreeable facts about the current relationship between citizens and government in our state. California now lacks a commonly accepted basis for making important decisions about the future of our state. We lack a shared narrative between citizens and government, a widely shared understanding of how to do the hard work of reaching responsible decisions on vital issues.

As a state we must:

• Identify the decisions and investments that will shape our long-term future and not be distracted by the petty, often partisan, disputes that occupy far too many headlines
• Focus on how to make public institutions more effective, more efficient and more accountable. A sense of priorities does us little good if we don't have institutions that can act on those priorities and maintain public confidence
• Weigh the costs of our decisions and decide how we will pay for the programs and the infrastructure that are essential. It has, for all intents and purposes, become politically impossible to have a sensible discussion about taxes in California. We must face tax issues squarely and that includes addressing the multiple and serious defects in the ways we currently impose state and local taxes as well as examining options for raising more revenues.²

Common Sense California is dedicated to helping get this work done.