Over much of its range from the Rocky Mountains to the West Coast, the species known as Western Bluebird, like so many other wild creatures, is in decline. I’ve never seen one near our house, but I came upon this beautiful bird all by itself digging around in the leaves below the gigantic fig tree across from Spanish Village in Balboa Park.

The poor Western Bluebird will be pushed even closer to the edge of extinction if a group of grossly ignorant Californians have their way. Signatures are being “bought” to put on the ballot in our next election an initiative to amend the constitution that would repeal the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Coastal Act, the state’s Endangered Species Act and the California Global Warming Solutions Act. So far the language of the initiative declares Californians have “inalienable rights” to produce, use or consume air, carbon dioxide, water, habitat and energy-generating natural resources.

The Tea Party Express is chugging right along on its way to dismantling all kinds of legal strictures put in place to keep people from fouling their own nests... and from fouling the environment where the rest of us have our nests. Anyone who pays even half attention to the way the average Californian “studies” the issues before an election knows that most voters don’t have the foggiest idea what will be the consequence of voting one way or the other on any of the initiatives on the ballot. Millions of dollars are spent by corporations and other special interest groups to get enough signatures to place an initiative on the ballot. Then millions more are spent buying media time to promote it. And it’s quite clear that the average voter marks the ballot in ignorance. Whatever happened to the idea that a representative form of government serves the people best by requiring elected representatives to gather information, study the results of research, and make informed decisions? Running the risk of sounding immodest, I believe that I am about as well-informed as any other voter I know, and I confess that the initiative language sometimes leaves me guessing which way to vote. In my state I want to vote to elect responsible men and women to serve in the State Assembly and in the State Senate, and I want them to do the people’s business. If they don’t do it to my satisfaction, I will vote to unseat them in the next round of elections.

Anyway, back to the Western Bluebird... I don’t trust Joe the shop keeper or Sue the plumber to know enough about Western Bluebird populations or about what harms the birds to make informed decisions about laws that protect wild life. I want future generations of Americans to be able to come as I did upon a Western Bluebird going about its business of finding insects and worms in autumn leaves dropped from a healthy tree. It’s going to take good government to make that happen. A hands-off, laissez faire, let-everybody-do-whatever approach simply will not protect this or any other bird or fish or person. That’s one of the things government can and must do for us.