Too much of a good thing will make you sick. Too much sun. Too much food. Too much democracy.

This Election Day should be a celebration of our way of life. Instead, too many of us are hung over with too many choices about too many people and too many issues we know too little about.

So many people are so sick of it that far more will stay at home rather than vote. Our democracy is becoming undemocratic.

In Encinitas alone, voters are expected to choose a California Supreme Court justice, a member of the state Board of Equalization, several associate justices of the Court of Appeals, City Council members and board members for the San Dieguito Union High School District, MiraCosta Community College District, Encinitas Union High School District and even the Leucadia Wastewater District.

Other places in North County have even more choices to run hospitals, water districts, ambulances, planning groups and parks. And that doesn't count the dozens of ballot initiatives and state and federal candidates that each of us is supposed to know about. But do not.

The result: Too many elections for too many elected officials doing too many things without our knowledge, let alone consent. That is the definition of tyranny.

Schools are just one form of government out of control. In Encinitas, students use the "People's History of the United States" to learn the American experience is a dismal stream of racism, corruption and genocide.

If any school board members are upset about this polemic, they have never said.

Maybe they don't know. I guarantee you most parents and taxpayers don't.

Elected and non-elected officials are hiding behind a screen of too much government in every area of our lives. To build a home requires dozens of permits from every level of government. First-time home buyers are often stunned to learn that $100,000 and more of the price of their house comes from local, state and federal government fees, regulations and delays. So when people ask why housing prices are high or traffic so congested, the blame gets passed around like a pile of hot rocks.

The bumper sticker has it right: It is easier to get welfare than a building permit.

Do you know who is on your planning group? Or the California Coastal Commission? Or the San Diego Association of Governments? Or North County Transit District? Most of us do not. I'm not suggesting we should - that would be a full-time job. Campaign ads are no help. They just add to the confusion about who is supposed to be doing what.

The unspoken assumption behind the avalanche of California officeholders is that more government is better. The truth is that reducing the number of elected offices would give us better choices. More accountability.

In his first inauguration address, President Ronald Reagan had it right when he said government is not the solution; government is the problem.

If you went to public school in Encinitas, you probably never learned that.

- North County Times columnist Michael D. Pattinson is president of Barratt American, a builder based in Carlsbad.