I have watched with great amusement the reaction of some folks to the California recall. For some, this has been an excuse to indulge in a great deal of vituperation against every thing that they find egregious and abhorrent about modern politics, usually at the expense of a fellow who's only crime has been to win an election. Others, more sensibly, have taken the opportunity to reflect upon the chain of cause and effect that led them to this point.
Larry Lessig comments that while the recall provision is a bit wacky, the results are completely democractic. Dan Shafer echoed these sentiments, commenting that Californians had "allowed participatory democracy to go too far". The key idea here is that this recall vote was a shining example of the type of direct democracy that Californians, via their Constitution, wished to receive. It also, amusingly, is a classic example of what de Tocqueville referred to as "mob rule." Shafer, among others, is calling for an immediate recall petition to be filed against Schwarzenegger, despite the fact that the man received more votes for Governor than Gray Davis received to remain in office. (As an interesting side note, Schwarzenegger's popular vote percentage in this election - 48% - was higher than Bill Clinton's 43% in the 1992 election vs. Bush Sr. and Perot.)
California's liberal Democrats need to be asking themselves some hard questions about the failures of this season. The libertarians among us should also be asking themselves some hard questions about the nature and scope of the American democracy.
Posted by brent at 13:14