CA: Remember, nastiness and partisanship is a Norquist goal

Another key Norquist quote to keep in mind when viewing Sacramento politics:

"We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals - and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship," said Grover Norquist, a leading Republican strategist, who heads a group called Americans for Tax Reform.

Denver Post

Indeed, this is where we are at in Sacramento, as the Cato-influenced Dan Walters of the SacBee noted recently in his column, echoing the "broken" meme heard over and over again.

But of course Walters wouldn't probably point out that making life difficult in the state capitol is actually a Norquist goal. The corporate Norquist agenda has, in fact, laid the groundwork for this dynamic, as I have written before.

To simplify, I'm noting these contributing Norquist goals we have in CA:
o Term limits
o Supermajority vote for tax increases
o The No-Taxes Norquist Pledge in Republican legislators

We can't afford to buy into the blaming I hear from corporatist voices such as Dan Walters. The reality is that this type of blaming inevitably obscures some of the structural reasons for our state legislative mess.

The unfortunate thing is that the public loses out, which is the whole point of the corporate Norquist agenda.