Earlier this week, I wrote about a joint legislative hearing in which California pretended to conduct fact-finding on a proposal to fund $26 million worth of transgender medical services for children. Beyond what we learned about the topic, though, the hearing was also a revealing look at the way Democrats manage debate, and at the weak and helpless way Republicans too often react. Democrats steer, and Republicans ride the bus. This clear dynamic becomes especially obvious in a state where a Democratic supermajority can and does steamroll its opposition, not feeling the need to be subtle. They have the confidence to reveal who they are.
Legislators arrived at the meeting with a package of written background material that was supposed to prepare them for the discussion. When the Republican Assemblyman Joe Patterson questioned a witness, a well-known doctor who runs a transgender clinic, Democratic Assemblywoman Dawn Addis intervened:
