When California became a one-party state, it began drifting away from transparent democracy. A recent Dan Walters column titled “California was a model for transparency. No Longer.” illustrates this. Even before the ill-advised gerrymander effort, Mr. Walters describes how the legislature avoids discussion and public debate. Examples: legislature caucuses meet behind closed doors to decide the fate of legislation, the gerrymander map was created in secret, there is an unwritten rule that prohibits legislators from discussing changes to their bills during committee meetings, details about costs of the legislative annex are kept secret using non-disclosure pledges. Democracy suffocates without the oxygen of open debate.