Nothing sums up the dilemma facing New Yorkers over how to vote Tuesday on the ballot question of authorizing a constitutional convention quite like Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.

Recall that the novel's hero, Capt. John Yossarian, was a World War II bombardier who wanted to stop flying because he was going crazy. But his flight surgeon, Doc Daneeka, wouldn't ground him because by wanting to stop flying, Yossarian was showing a rational concern for his safety and was, therefore, sane. That was the catch.

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Since I can’t do any better than Heller, who died in 1999, I’m going to explain how the catch's double-bind logic applies to the constitutional convention by paraphrasing his words and using his characters and hope he’s smiling somewhere:

Albany was a horrible joke, but Doc Daneeka didn’t laugh until Yossarian came to him pleading for him to vote “yes” on the question of a constitutional convention.

“You’re wasting your time,” Doc Daneeka was forced to tell him.

“Albany is corrupt and dysfunctional. Ask anyone.”

“Anyone is part of the problem. Who do you think keeps sending the corrupt and dysfunctional bums to Albany? Anyone.”

“Then can’t you see Albany is broken?” Yossarian wanted to know.

“Oh, sure. Always has been. That’s why there’s a rule saying we have to vote every 20 years to hold a constitutional convention to try and fix it.”

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“Then why won’t you vote for it? You worried about public employee pensions disappearing?”

“That’s a myth ginned up by the unions," Doc Daneeka said. "Pensions are bound by contract.”

“You think you’ll lose your guns?”

“Nah. The Second Amendment has that covered. Why are you voting for it?”

“Because I want a government that works,” Yossarian said. “I want term limits and to ban outside jobs for legislators and more than three men in a room.”

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“That’s what legislators and special interests say they want. But they formed a group called New Yorkers Against Corruption to defeat a ‘yes’ vote. Why?"

“Because they’re corrupt and dysfunctional, that’s why.”

“Of course they are,” Doc Daneeka replied. “I just explained that, didn’t I? And you can’t have corrupt and dysfunctional people running things, can you?”

Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach.

“They won’t be running the constitutional convention,” Yossarian said. “Delegates will be.”

“Who are the delegates?”

“Anyone can be a delegate.”

“Anyone?”

“Anyone. There will be 204 of them — three from each of the 63 state Senate districts plus 15 at-large delegates. They’ll get elected next year and convene in 2019.”

“Do you want to be a delegate?”

“Me?” Yossarian asked. “No.”

“Why doesn’t anyone who wants to be a delegate ever ask me to vote 'yes'?”

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“Then would you?’”

“No," Doc Daneeka said. "Then I couldn’t vote ‘yes.’”

“What’s the catch?”

The catch to the constitutional convention was Catch-22, which specified that delegates are to be elected through the same corrupt and dysfunctional system that put the legislators in office who were responsible for the state of things in Albany.

Doc Daneeka explained that the processes for getting on the ballot as a delegate and running a campaign were the same as those for any other state office. Delegates even get paid the same as a legislator — $79,500.

While anyone could theoretically be a delegate, the candidate most likely to be elected is one capable of circulating petitions to get on the ballot and raising money to mount a credible campaign within the contours of their already gerrymandered state Senate district.

Anyone with those credentials is already in office or helped office holders get elected. Why would they have any interest in advancing meaningful reforms?

Real reformers clamored for a legislative debate over the rules for electing delegates and transparency requirements for the convention’s proceedings in advance of Election Day, but legislators wouldn’t listen.

Yossarian was moved very deeply by the simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

“That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he observed.

“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.

David Andreatta is a Democrat and Chronicle columnist. He can be reached at dandreatta@gannett.com.