Palmetto, its not that simple
Your example assumes a representative democracy; in California we have a separate system of direct democracy wherein a plurality of voters (not legislators) can amend the State Constitution, the highest law in the State.
This direct democracy setup bypasses a legislative process of committee scrutiny and bicameral voting. This process currently accounts for 70% of the budgetary spending of the state; the governor and legislature only control 30% of the budget.
The State is broke. The system is broken. Furthermore, one of these amendments to the State Constitution deemed budgetary matters to require a 2/3rds majority to pass the legislature. The flip side is 1/3 of the legislators can stall budgetary decisions. Nobody is in charge. This is the result of direct democracy (which works in with a small group) but not in the most populous State in the US.
