The budget mess in Sacramento underscores just how far California's political leadership has fallen since the glory days of the Golden State when ambitious leaders built freeways that tied this huge state together and created a world-class university system that gave everyone a chance to go to college.

Could you imagine what would happen if this generation of political leadership had been asked to meet the challenges of almost a half-century ago? Gov. Gray Davis would be paralyzed with fear that he would offend a major contributor, and Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte would threaten to end the political careers of Republicans who helped the Democrats build the costly California Water Project.

Instead of an all-inclusive three-tier university system, today's legislators probably would call the program too grand and scale back California's Master Plan for Higher Education to a handful of correspondence schools offering real estate licenses and truck-driving lessons.

It seems they would dismantle the California dream before it had a chance to gain a constituency.

Now the Democrats and Republicans sit in Sacramento trying to figure out how to avoid political risk on the most monumental problem of the day: fixing California's $38 billion budget shortfall. They have become fence-sitters when leadership is needed.

Only will get worse

Inaction will be costly, and could drive up the shortfall by $2 billion if a budget is passed at the end of August instead of the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1. The delay also would cause problems for local agencies dependent on state funding and further damage the state's credit rating.

Although some legislators have proposed promising budget plans, they've mostly been ignored by their colleagues. It seems most legislators want easy answers, or they won't participate in finding a solution. It's much simpler to hide behind an ideological mantra like "no new taxes" than to actually do the difficult work of crafting a solid budget compromise.

Solving this problem won't come without sacrifices, which means major cuts in many worthwhile programs as well as increased taxes. Anything short of a comprehensive solution, and the Legislature and governor would only be delaying the problem for another year.

Last Sunday was the constitutional deadline for passing a budget, but the politicians blew by that requirement without even suggesting an excuse for not doing their jobs. That's not unusual, of course. This is a Legislature and governor so used to passing the buck that hardly anyone expects them to meet their deadlines.

They wouldn't even be in this mess had they been willing to deal with this problem last year. But that was an election year, and nothing gets done when the governor and most legislators are running for office.

And if the state's politicians didn't need another excuse to continue their gridlock, the possible recall election against Davis has added to the unwillingness by some opponents to get anything done. The governor seems to be on the ropes, and that has not helped in resolving the budget crisis.

Much at stake

Ironically, the governor may be the one working the hardest on the budget because his very political career is staring him in the face. It's too bad he didn't have that sense of urgency last year. Asked Thursday about the state of budget negotiations, Davis gave this answer:

"I liken this whole process to playing the accordion. Sometimes you get really really close together and sometimes you get farther apart. We're at one of these moments now where we're farther apart than we were three weeks ago."

The problem is that the poorest Californians who need government the most are being squeezed in that political accordion.

Dr. David Schecter, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno, said one of the reasons that a budget deal is so difficult is the recent economic downturn in the state.

"California is beginning to look like so many other states -- some Southern states and rust belt states -- and the political leadership has not risen to the occasion," he said. "It's always easier to do projects and solve problems when you have cash coming into the state."

Schecter also said term limits have caused too much short-term thinking in Sacramento. "Term limits are a huge failure because people consistently keep their eyes on the next election, and work on short-term policies that will get media coverage instead of staying with things for the long run. Working hard on long-term projects isn't rewarded, and loyalty to the institution has diminished with term limits."

The governor agrees that term limits have caused short-term thinking in Sacramento, and has warned that the budget decisions that are made this year will have significant impacts on California for years to come.

Somebody needs to tell today's political leaders that they will be living in a California that they helped diminish. But their actions tell us that they don't really care whether California remains the Golden State.