Reform- an Insider's View
Reform is a term with many meanings. Let's take a deeper dive
“Reform” is a term we like to use because it denotes something “clean,” “new,” or “different.” In government, “reform” usually denotes “a shift.” Reform really masks “taking,” though at times it does create a new synthesis.
Reform is hard because it requires dogged analysis. It requires Media picking it up to force it. It requires multiple stories, with a continued push. Media usually gives us single stories, which in isolation feed the curiosity but do not combine with the broader macro-trends.
Usually the examples of where reform is needed are niche. People want sweeping narratives. How do you make the nuance bigger? How do you take the example and force change? Connect the dots. Create the narrative. We have tried in a limited circumstance here, starting with the fires and what they open up.
Bureaucracies, particularly government, are very adept at resisting reform. They are a “blob,” taking the punches and keeping on going until the reformers “get tired,” or move on. Look at Swalwell. The story was a week, and then gone, moving on. We watched the portal open, it was reinforced, and was closed by the Media within 7 days. It was fascinating. We documented it here for those watched.
Did we reform anything? No. Those same cynics just moved on to the next person, propping him up, ready to fight another day.
Reform requires something more than just understanding the “scandal.” It is also the glimpse into the “second dimension” as we like to call it. The second dimension is where the real action is with government. It is where the interlocking favors exist. It is where the money is shifting. It is where Power resides. It is jealously hoarded and guarded at the same time. It is “inside baseball” or “the Power Game,” depending on which way you want to see it.
Exposure to the “second dimension” is generally limited for the general population. Think about the LA Fed tapes. Think about City Council. 2022 was a year full of it. Dana Williamson was as well, mainly because of the fear those in Sacramento felt when they knew her phone was tapped. The window existed but it did not open fully however.
It is where lobbyists, staffers, and electeds exist. Insiders also get to play there. Organizations, particularly in the Advocacy space, are dependent on it. The symbiosis of the opposing forces lives here. Both the aggressor and the defenders live in a weird co-dependance on one another to survive. When change needs to happen, it starts and ends in the “second dimension.” Why? Because it is the second dimension which controls the events, issues, and ultimately government itself. It is the unelected “power behind.”
Yes it exists and at all levels of government.
Exposure to the world is scary the first time it happens. You think (a) am I in Alice in Wonderland’s looking glass, and (b) am I seeing conspiracies and going crazy?
The answer is “yes” to both.
It feels like a novel or fiction. You know it is there but nobody talks about it. Some know bits and pieces, but when you get all the way in, you realize it is some strange “club.” You look around for the first time and realize, “I feel very out place.” It is overwhelming. You have to take it step by step because exposure to it colors things differently.
Over time, as you get to understand it, you see how it starts to become more normalized. You begin to see behind the events. The colors change, or rather, you see two colors at the same time.
You look to see where the real “angle” is.
It is another language.
Everything has multiple meanings.
The public is one thing, designed for general consumption, but there is always something “more.” It is the “more” you need to get to. Sometimes it is very simple, sometimes it is very opaque, depending on the sophistication of the issue and the people involved (and it is not “level of government” dependent, sophistication can be local and simplicity can be federal).
The second dimension has many different players, each with a critical role. Their roles develop over time. We have touched on many of these players here. It is not just government, it is nonprofits, it is business, it is the Media, it is electeds, it is consultants. Each of them have their place, formal and informal.
The openings, like the Swalwell event and subsequent shuffling to Becerra, showed how they can move in concert with one another, closing up those “portals” which form to protect the ecosystem first and foremost. Remember, it all depends on the fiction being believed by those on the outside. If the electorate changes, if the votes shift, then the fiction becomes brittle and can change. Reform. Once you lose the seat, then you lose the Power and money.
Within the second dimension, there is internal competition, but it is limited to certain rules. Either party plays by those rules, at least until a figure like Donald Trump comes in and rewrites the rules- one of the biggest reasons he is so detested by the “Establishment.” He is replacing them, rewriting the rules, and undermining the “clubby” internal competition.
Furthermore, competition, as much internal (i.e. D v R), is about keeping out the “external” (new D and new R as well as other independent “disturbers”).
“Threats,” must be “dispatched.” Many of those who threaten the system are actually never really let in. Think about candidates who could be reformers but do not get there because they do not go “all in.” It was not war to them like it is to those in the second dimension. Think Mahan. Think why Lorena Gonzalez did not fear him or his backers. He was never getting to that second dimension where she has to protect.
They get glimpses, but you have to break through the portal and he did not have that in him. It is the punch and dance we talked about, that Mark Barabak mentioned in his piece yesterday in the Los Angeles Times when interviewing around the San Gabriel Valley (no I did not get a call). People sense the need to break through but the wall is strong. It is why Gonzalez can taunt the Mahan’s of the world. It is why Bass does not fear Adam Miller. They do not live in the second dimension and therefore will be limited in their effects.
For those of us outside, the glimpses are everywhere when you start to see it. It is like when you want to buy a certain car, and voila, all you see is that car. Consciousness is a very real thing for humans.
Last week, a good piece from the new Altadena Water Wars (Guerras del Agua de Altadena) outlined the interlocking relationships and begins to peel back the onion for the water-industrial complex. Fascinating read because it starts to show where the second dimension exists. The old one did the same and went away. One wonders why?
We also wrote a piece about the $400+ million grant to the Harbor and where the distributions were being held up, among other things. Fear of the loss of the money should lead those in Power to want to fulfill the Grants but will they? One cycle here is only one cycle.
We are limited in our reach in terms of subscribers here (very niche ourselves because who would read this much policy on a daily basis), but we do get read by some who could take such a story, and make it painful for Los Angeles, especially in places like DC.
We have written about the $2 billion Metro Olympics drama which correlates with our CDBG-DR asks- unrealistic and designed for insiders instead of those who really need it. Look at the piece in the Los Angeles Times about the hearings in Sacramento- fear the federals are not going to “backfill” the Olympics. Answers? Nope.
The second dimension does not want to solve it, they just want the money to show up, creating a public fear while knowing there are those behind who need to be made whole.
Dots to connect, in different places but they begin to align.
We can go on and on. It is exhausting and we are only talking about LA, imagine if we go outward?
To begin to truly reform, you have to expose that second dimension because it is home to all those interlocking relationships necessary to truly drive the “new.” We are talking about the real “knot.”
Getting there requires persistence.
Importantly, it requires the recognition of specific examples to show a true pattern.
Media will give on-off’s- they will not do the full connection unless you are a specific type like what LAist did for homelessness and Weingart. You bring down Power when you do it, but it is rare these days.
It is up to reformers, true reformers, to connect the dots for everyone to see, including the Media. When it is connected, when the picture becomes clearer, when it is overwhelming, the second dimension cannot close the portal. The Media then chases the story. When the story is real, then you have to finish the job. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
When the light is shown on the creatures who live in the dark, who do not have to account to the public, then you really start to see the change.
It is not immediate, but it happens. They fight. They give you small wins to make you go away.
But, when you do a job well done, it is fun to peel back the onion and see what is really there.
Happy Monday.