For most of their first eight months in charge on Capitol Hill, the Democrats passed bill after resolution after bill demanding something close to an immediate retreat from Iraq. They did this knowing that President Bush would veto the bills and that he had enough Republican support to sustain those vetoes.

The maneuvers were empty, meaningless gestures meant to mollify the Democrats base -- but at least they were exercising powers given them by the Constitution.

The same cannot be said of the California legislature, which this past week passed a bill which would put a measure on the state ballot this February calling for President Bush to start pulling troops out of Iraq.

Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, the Oakland Democrat who sponsored the bill, sent Schwarzenegger a letter yesterday urging him to either sign the bill or allow it “to become law without your signature.”

Some Republicans called the bill a cynical attempt by Democrats to boost the turnout of voters who also might support an initiative to modify legislators' term limits.

Well, it's California, and we deserve the representatives that we elect to office. But should we be surprised that high school and college students have a woeful understanding of civics if their elected representatives don't understand it either?