Pols should look before they leap

Decisions by governors, legislators and bureaucrats have consequences, some intended and some not.

Were politics a rational exercise, decision-makers would fully explore potential effects before acting, thereby minimizing chances that what they have wrought would backfire.

However, politics and politicians tend to act in the here and now, rather than worry about what might happen in the future when their decrees collide with the real world.

Examples of short-term decisions that have turned sour abound. One obvious one is California’s ill-starred bullet train project, which has limped along year after year, and still lacks enough money even to complete one initial segment, much less a complete financial plan.

If we had known then what we know now, would voters, governors and legislators have so willingly begun a project that seems to exist merely to exist, but serves no discernible purpose?

Several other notions kicking around the Capitol currently could use some critical thinking about potential consequences.

One is that California should pay reparations to its

Black residents for many decades of discrimination and repression. A task force created to study the issue has pegged potential damages as much as $1.2 million per person, although it has not yet said how much should actually be paid.

“Rather, it is an economically conservative initial assessment of what losses, at a minimum, the state of California caused or could have prevented, but did not,” a task force report states. “The Legislature would then have to decide how to translate loss-estimates into proposed reparations amounts.”

No one should question that Black Californians have been ill-treated in many ways, but even if awarded cash, would claims for reparations end there?

Latinos suffered many of the same indignities and economic damages and might easily make similar claims.

What about California’s

Native Americans? They were enslaved and hunted down during the state’s first decades, with bounties to encourage more killing. Couldn’t today’s descendants claim reparations for genocide?

Another issue being floated in the Capitol these days is a constitutional amendment to make housing a civil right.

Advocates say Assembly Constitutional Amendment 10 is needed to spur greater efforts by officeholders to end California’s housing shortage. Were ACA 10 to be enacted, it would give advocates for the poor and others who lack adequate housing a legal basis for suing state and local governments.

However, governments cannot, by themselves, end the housing shortage. At best they can finance a relative few housing units but must rely on private investment to build the millions of additional units the state needs. Making housing a constitutional right would be virtue-signaling that raises expectations with no real world benefit.

A third example of something needing more objective analysis is a bill that purports to raise salaries of teachers and other education workers by 50% in seven years by increasing the state aid that school districts receive.

If enacted, it would be another bullet train – making promises about doing something wonderful in the future without laying out how it will be financed. One would think politicians would have learned by now the folly of making such open-ended, detail-free commitments.

Finally, there are directives from the Air Resources Board to end sales of gasoline- and diesel-fueled vehicles, including large trucks, in the not-to-distant future. However, no one has laid out how, as a practical matter, it can be done, given the current state of technology and lack of firm plans to increase electrical energy supplies, charging stations and the other services and devices such a transition would require.

An old adage, “Look before you leap,” could be applied to all of these issues.

— CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

Get to explicating

Kudos and thanks to Greg Stovall for his April 26 letter “Blame where it’s due.” Of particular import is his observation regarding the lack of intellectually honest political and social reportage among mainstream media. Their mother’s milk, two years out, remains Trump, his supporters and contempt for any disapproved right-of-center opinion.

This has gotten to be rather thin gruel which, dangerously, seems to have trickled down to, and hopelessly infected, the discussion of important issues concerning our state as well as those local to Davis. The Enterprise remains an important organ of civic life in the city and has the obligation to present and explicate, equally, all sides of these issues. The Enterprise might better discharge this responsibility by providing more incisive analysis of contentious issues that are based upon primary-sourced facts and essential detail that many might view as inconvenient or discordant with conventional thinking.

Let’s have the on-the-ground facts that allow us adults to come to our own conclusions, not the usual spin and pap consuming too many valuable column inches in our local paper. An excellent positive example is the letter from Walter Sadler

Speak out President that appeared in the April 8 Enterprise, “Electrification Element in the City’s Electrification Plan Dead on Arrival.” The topic of the letter should be further explored; perhaps more important, though, its detailed analytical approach should be applied whenever reporting on important issues of the day and certainly not limited to the op-ed page.

As Mr. Stovall suggests, let’s pay attention to all the facts, avoid reflexive endorsement of accepted — if unwise — wisdom, and spread both applause and opprobrium around a little more evenly.

Jon Sugarman Davis

Drums at Whole Earth

My name is Jim Willson and I am an organizer for a large drumming group in Sacramento. We have been around since 2008 and have hundreds of members on our mailing list. Drumming is a wonderful experience for people of different cultures to connect and share a common love of communicating through rhythm.

Open drum circles have been a tradition at the Whole Earth Festival for at least 15 years. The circles are normally held near Hart Hall to keep the noise away from the festival stages.

Last year the organizers canceled these circles, based on a number of factors, including what was called cultural appropriation. I did reach out to the UC Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission to try to

The Hon. Joe Biden, The White House, Washington, D.C., 20500; 202-456-1111 (comments), 202-456-1414 (switchboard); email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

U.S. Senate

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3841; email: https://www. feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/ e-mail-me

Sen. Alex Padilla, 112 Hart Senate Office get more information about this; however I could not find anybody to speak to. Hopefully it will be possible to get drum circles back at the festival so that everybody can enjoy them. In the past, the circles were facilitated by experienced drummers, among them the legendary Arthur Hull, who pioneered the idea of facilitating drum circles and has trained many people around the world. I reached out to the WEF organizers to recommend that the drum circles again be facilitated by experienced drummers. The facilitator could maintain proper volume levels, watch the playing times, make sure drummers are considerate, etc.

In the Sacramento area there is an African American woman who would be an excellent facilitator. She has taught African drumming and dance for years. The organizers said it was too late to schedule a drum circle this year, but they recommended that we come back and discuss the issue in December when they begin planning for next year. I hope we can bring back the joyful and creative experience that is drumming!

I set up the following website: https:// sac-davis-drums.com. This site is coauthored by a number of drummers from different cultures and includes a history of drumming at WEF. If the university is willing to discuss the matter next year, the site might help provide some useful background information.

Jim Willson Sacramento

Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202224-3553; email: https://www.padilla. senate.gov/contact/contact-form/

House of Representatives

Rep. Mike Thompson, 268 Cannon Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515; 202225-3311. District office: 622 Main Street, Suite 106, Woodland, CA 95695; 530-753-5301; email: https:// https:// mikethompsonforms.house.gov/contact/

Governor Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-4452841; email: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/ gov40mail/