Readers React: California Constitution: Start from scratch

To the editor: So California’s Constitution is cluttered with special-interest bric-a-brac because amending it is too easy? True; unfortunately, the remedy proposed by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) is too modest (55% voter approval) and omits that it requires an amendment (without removing clutter first). (“It’s time to declutter California’s messy Constitution,” Op-Ed, June 18)

We need a new Constitution, written from scratch and focused on creating a good framework for governing. Bric-a-brac must go (added by hundreds of amendments, so piecemeal removal is not practical), and the guiding principle must be creating the framework, with no special interests. A super-majority vote for limited kinds of legislative action is better than constitutional detail, and it could help reforms prevail over special-interest opposition.

Once a worthy Constitution is in view, protection against ill-advised changes is needed. There is no one ideal way, but amendments getting less than a two-thirds majority could be limited.

John C. Nangle, Palm Springs