Understanding the Proximate Causes of Legislative Sclerosis

California continues to drift in its policy directions. We have a gaping budget hole and a number of issues where resolution at even the most basic levels is unattainable. Many observers look at this chaos and attribute it to term limits and indeed a case can be made that with more experience members might be able to work together a bit more productively. They at least would understand their own rules.

But the term limits explanation is ultimately a false one. A look at other bodies, where there are no term limits but are equally dysfunctional would suggest that there must be other causes. Congress is the obvious candidate with similar signs of inaction. I would first look to the way our representatives choose themselves - redistricting. The safety that most members of legislative bodies enjoy can cause them to look at the world in very personal terms. A second possible explanation might be the perquisites of office - it is easy to slow the process down when you are treated as a minor potentate. A third explanation might be staff. As Mancur Olson pointed out in his last book, democratic processes tend to slow down when more layers are added - the inter-negotiations among staff and interest groups make a good deal of the process seem like a legislative Kabuki.

There might be a saving grace in all this sludge - think what an efficient legislative body could do.