California is the First Failed State

CALIFORNIA IS THE FIRST FAILED STATE (Full Debate) from Intelligence Squared US on Vimeo.

California is the First Failed State

19 Jan 2010

Speakers: Sharon Waxman, Andreas Kluth, Gray Davis, Lawrence O'Donnell, Van Jones, John Donvan, Bob Shriver

California tried. And then it failed. Uniquely charged by its constitution to guarantee the “happiness” of its residents – the state empowered its people to demand by referendum whatever they wanted to spend money on – from better schools to bigger prisons – and to refuse by referendum to pay the bills. A legislature paralysed by the absence of a workable middle – and a requirement for a 2/3 vote to impose taxes – combined finally to dig the state into a possibly inescapable hole. Having now earned the lowest bond rating of any of the 50 states, the rates it pays to borrow keep getting higher.

Yet borrowing seems to be all California can do to get through from day to day. That is what is known as The Road to Bankruptcy. “Happiness” thus engineered is doomed to collapse. The question is whether California is a special case – with a uniquely dysfunctional political culture – or a bellwether of failure soon to come to other high-spending states across the breadth of North America.

First vote: 31% For, 25% Against, 44% Undecided

Final Vote: 58% For, 37% Against, 5% Undecided

The motion is carried by 21%

Thank you to Intelligence Squared US for allowing us to use this video.

Sharon Waxman

Author and journalist
Andreas Kluth

Journalist and author
Gray Davis

Former Governor of California (1999-2003)
Lawrence O'Donnell

Political analyst; former Democratic Chief of Staff of the United States Senate Committee on Finance
Van Jones

Civil rights activist and attorney
John Donvan

Correspondent for ABC News
Bob Shriver

Attorney and journalist