Liberal political linguist George Lakoff, last noted around these parts for positing that Democrats suffer politically for clinging to "Enlightenment reason," has come up with a magical formula for "ending minority rule" in Democrat-dominated California: Change the two-thirds requirement on tax votes to a simple majority. His case:
In no other state can a ruthless minority cause the chaos, disruption, pain and near-bankruptcy that our state has suffered. A majority of the voters can end the tyranny of the minority.
Democracy means majority rule. One sentence will do the job.
Of course, there will be a blowback. Conservatives will say, as they always do, that this is just a ruse to raise taxes.
But this is about democracy, not about how or whether revenues are raised. What the majority of citizens want, a majority of elected representatives will enact. The question is simple: Do you want democracy?
