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May 23, 2013
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 Reclaiming the Golden StatePosted on Oct 18, 2010
At a discussion after the last debate between the two California candidates for governor, a man wondered whether his children would want to continue to live in the state where they grew up. It was a terrific question, perfect for a state with a 12.4 percent unemployment rate and 21 percent of the nation’s home foreclosures. The discussion was sponsored by the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West and featured Joe Mathews and Mark Paul, authors of an excellent and relevant new book, “California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It.” Mathews and Paul assured the questioner that California would be great for his children and that they, like most residents, would not be moving away. The book, published by the University of California Press, is an antidote for today’s politics, where the rallying cry has become “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of good.” Mathews and Paul reach for perfection, and although their ideas may not attain it, their effort is a good counterpoint to the current embrace of imperfection. In the past, I may have been guilty of using this anti-perfectionism argument. But after observing the flaws of too many Obama administration compromises, I don’t think it’s much of a banner to march under, especially for a columnist on a crusading website. Advertisement California has two marquee contests this fall: Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer against Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, and the race between Brown, the state attorney general, and Whitman, who was CEO of eBay. The Boxer-Fiorina race is crucial for President Barack Obama and his hopes for the Democrats to retain control of the Senate. It’s a straight-out contest between a veteran liberal incumbent Boxer, a strong Obama supporter, and a conservative business-regulation challenger who opposes the Obama agenda, including health reform, which she wants to repeal. Right now, the race is about even. If Fiorina beats Boxer, the Republicans will have taken a big step toward controlling the Senate. Despite the importance of the Senate election, the winner of the contest for governor, where polls show Brown slightly ahead, will have much more power to shape policy in a state that continues to be a predictor of political, economic and social behavior—good, bad and indifferent—for the rest of the nation. California’s population, the largest of the states, makes it so, as does its diverse demography, climate and geography. That, plus constant immigration, has made California an incubator of ideas and creative people—a pioneering public university system, Silicon Valley, highways, water systems, the modern aircraft industry as well as Jack Kerouac and the beat poets, Steve Jobs, Luis Valdez and his play “Zoot Suit,” George Lucas, novelist Walter Mosley and many more. Neither of the candidates has shown the ability to restore California to its former status as an economic and social incubator. And neither candidate, as Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton noted, is especially likable. Whitman reminds me of the vice principal in charge of discipline at a high school or an executive in the human relations department of a giant, soulless corporation. Brown has an edgy arrogance and a know-it-all quality. More important is the shallowness of their campaigns—fought like most electoral efforts this year with ads made by video propagandists, circulating on television, YouTube and Twitter. The candidates shield themselves from journalists, Whitman more so than Brown. Newspapers and political blogs have tracked the race pretty well, but television generally ignored it until two really simple stories emerged. Whitman turned out to have an illegal immigrant housekeeper for nine years. When the housekeeper admitted her status, Whitman, rather than helping her get an immigration lawyer, fired her. As for Brown, an inadvertently taped conversation revealed one of his aides referring to Whitman as a “whore” in discussing how she promised to continue generous pension benefits for law enforcement officers when the Los Angeles police union endorsed her. Although they both try to adopt the rhetoric of a bright California, they have the crimped vision of bean counters, hostile to taxes and government service. During his two terms as governor, Brown viewed government as an enemy, taking special relish at targeting his alma mater, the University of California, with budget cuts. Listening to them, you wouldn’t know there was a single poor person in the state. In the televised debate, neither of them could answer the simple question posed by moderator Tom Brokaw: “Do we have to rebuild this state from the ground up?” The question had been suggested to Brokaw by co-author Mathews. While the authors had said yes in their book, the candidates wouldn’t take that big step. In “California Crackup,” Mathews and Paul propose a revolutionary makeover intended to end the governmental gridlock that has left the state with a $20 billion deficit; “tuition hikes at state universities that make college unaffordable for too many”; impoverished invalids without home care; overcrowded prisons; and decaying, jammed highways. Among their proposals: Eliminate the two-thirds vote that makes agreement on the budget and taxes impossibly difficult; limit an initiative process that has been corrupted by special interests stuffing the ballot with proposals; make the legislative districts more representative; create a one-house legislature; and institute proportional representation to give third parties a chance of electing representatives. There are other proposals, and they take a lot of explaining. That’s why—if you are interested in improving government—you should read the book. What’s most important is that it reflects the spirit of innovation that was once part of the California story. This is what the campaign for governor should have been about.  TAGS:
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By Lakisha, April 27, 2011 at 12:44 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
That’s really thinking out of the box. Thakns!
Report thisBy kdyson, October 20, 2010 at 3:41 pm Link to this comment
For the vast majority of people life is not one of financial bliss…I would hazard a guess that most
Report thispeople are suffering financially…so why would any of
these people vote for a person who would take away even
the rudimentary social safety net of Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, and Medicaid that you have in
the US. It is so counter-intuitive as to completely
confound me.
By bogglesthemind, October 20, 2010 at 3:11 pm Link to this comment
Peetawonkus @ 2:53 pm
Ops! Sorry, Peetawonkus, got you confused with another poster.
Report thisBy bogglesthemind, October 20, 2010 at 3:05 pm Link to this comment
Peetawonkus @ 2:53 pm
I read your posts and think booze might be your best friend.
And then there are times like now when I think it’s much worse than that.
Report this~Is it not time to rise up against willful stupidity?
By gerard, October 20, 2010 at 2:16 pm Link to this comment
One irony after another here:
Report this“Sadly, over the years, the invaders have spread across the entire USA.” Just like the white “invaders” swamped the Native Americans!
“The USA ruling elites are not forced to live among the invading culture;” No, because in the good old days the invaders robbed the native people of the entire country and made themselves the “ruling classes”. then they forcibly isolated the “native peoples” on “reservations” lacking every opportunity for survival. The “invaders” (more correctly, “the illegals”)—did not even permit the native peoples to “compete for jobs” or educate their kids in regular schools, or build their own schools.
Now, the ruling classes’ top wealthy isolate themselves from all the rest of us, both “natives” and “invaders”. They ship the jobs overseas, reducine everybody’s possibility of working for an honest wage, thereby setting up an unhealthy competition between the two deprived groups so they will waste their energy fighting each other and not notice what is really going on. Divide and conquer. It works every time—till enough people get smart.
By Obbop, October 20, 2010 at 1:20 pm Link to this comment
I was forced to flee my home state of California in 1993. Present from 1957 to 1993.
As a member of the working-poor blue-collar USA CITIZEN demographic I competed directly with MILLIONS of illegal for jobs, affordable housing and social services the illegals obtained via phony and stolen IDs.
Wages stagnated due to excess labor supply and rents rose faster than actual demand warranted due to the MILLIONS of illegal entrants.
The social problems were horrendous, also.
As an Anglo male I had to contend with the “cult of machismo” where the invaders constantly used intimidation tactics against the despised Gringos.
The Los Angeles Times did some investigative reporting a few years back proving how non-Chicanos were confronted by regular occurrences bigotry and bias in hiring, renting, etc. in areas where Chicanos were large or majority percentages of the local population.
So many negatives confronting USA CITIZENS the only route left to me was leave California.
Sadly, over the years, the invaders have spread across the entire USA.
The USA ruling elites are not forced to live among the invading culture; the ruling classes’ wealth isolates them from the invaders and the USA’s privileged class does not compete with the invaders for jobs and the elite’s kids are not fighting the illegals’ kids in the schools.
California is lost. Aztlan is here. Viva La Raza.
When will the USA fragment as the “house is divided” and can no longer stand?
Report thisBy Peetawonkus, October 20, 2010 at 10:53 am Link to this comment
rollzone,
“i would like to see Fiorina defeat Boxer, only to begin stuffing the globalist progressives back into their hole, before we put the rock back on top.”
Couple questions. Who is “we” and how do this “we” stuff those darned globalist progressives back into their hole? Will that require a lot of guns to herd them in there? And will it require many guns and probably a lot of killing to keep them there? Is this hole kind of like a mass grave? Why do right-wingers have such violent murder fantasies when it comes to getting their own way politically?
Oh, and what is a globalist progressive?
Report thisBy EdWatters, October 20, 2010 at 10:31 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
All of the recommendations are wonderful and would significantly improve the situation but there is the matter of Prop 13. There must be hundreds of billions worth of under-taxed commercial properties in the state but the commercial real estate sector has created the impression among most Californians that Prop 13 was designed for, and mostly benefits home owners.
The idea that Prop 13 can be amended in order to cease tax breaks for the super wealthy large real estate interests never reaches the radar screen of government and media but amending 13 is the only hope for saving the state from further brutal spending cuts.
The fact that a state with a $1.3 trillion GDP is frozen by a $20 billion deficit indicates other problems on the revenue side but anti-tax hysteria, whipped up by the people who can most afford to pay their share, limits the ability of people to deal with the issue rationally.
Report thisBy tedmurphy41, October 20, 2010 at 5:46 am Link to this comment
This man could always take his children and emigrate to the Philippines, or Ethiopia, or Somalia, or Afghanistan, or Iraq, or…..............
Report thisBy Egomet Bonmot, October 19, 2010 at 6:10 pm Link to this comment
You might be right about that Gerard, and the am-radio shout shows here in Los Angeles are certainly full of the character defamation side of the race, from both sides. Truthdig might not want to fall into that trap, and that’s understandable.
I for one will be happy on November 3, when everyone here can just light up a joint and mellow out.
Report thisBy gerard, October 19, 2010 at 2:31 pm Link to this comment
EgometBonmot: Could it be that favoring Brown would raise up so many devils full of defamation-of- character diatribes (and counter-diatribes excoriating Whitman) that the TD editors would be exhausted from overwork while trying to prevent the blog from being sued? Juat guessing.
Report thisCalifornia is not known for moderation, and this campaign is doomed to bring the worst out of everybody.
By PatrickHenry, October 19, 2010 at 2:13 pm Link to this comment
Jerry Brown was an excellant governor when I lived there, only the fruit fly and a rabid Republican press did him in.
Legalization of marijuana via proposition 19 is a more important 10th amendment issue which will have more impact than any other issue in America.
Growing a weed in your backyard and how it relates to oil, pharmaceutical, paper and textile industries is a more compelling arguement.
Once the states stand up to the federal government and regulate it, then these foreign entanglements can end and we can spend the ‘peace dividend’ here in America as was promised at the end of the cold war.
Report thisBy Egomet Bonmot, October 19, 2010 at 1:39 pm Link to this comment
David Frum says the California Governor’s race is the single most important contest in the country this November. Too bad Truthdig doesn’t agree.
Report thisBy Egomet Bonmot, October 19, 2010 at 1:31 pm Link to this comment
I just can’t fathom Truthdig’s deafening silence on Jerry Brown. I mean this is the comeback story of the year, and it’s been entirely driven by the force of Brown’s personality—not media manufacture.
Even this Boyarsky column mentions him only once. What in the flying pink Jesus is going on? Did Brown cancel on a Nation magazine cruise or something?
Report thisBy rollzone, October 19, 2010 at 10:33 am Link to this comment
hello. i have no comment. i would like to see Fiorina
Report thisdefeat Boxer, only to begin stuffing the globalist
progressives back into their hole, before we put the
rock back on top. i feel the same aboot Witman, even if
all she wants is legislation favoring her Ebay.
statesmanship has sunk below expectations, and
innovative solutions become rhetorical election catch
phrases- so i wish Californians the best, and recall
how they get what they ask for. they could do better.
By G.Anderson, October 19, 2010 at 10:25 am Link to this comment
Brown represents the failed past, Whitman the failing future. Both represent failing
ideologies that have done irreparable damage to the state.
California so dependent on real estate will not long survive the next bubble burst.
The middle class is gone. The rich hide in their enclaves, there is no turning back,
California is a state belonging to immigrants and will be for the next hundred years or
so.
it’s much to late for solutions, survival is the only thing left.
Report thisBy REDHORSE, October 19, 2010 at 9:13 am Link to this comment
Corruption and crime have blown California (like the entire Nation) wide open. Everything is for sale and grabs right down to the lives and futures of the “people”. For all practical purpose there is no Government. Graft rules. Professional criminals understand this and pay accordingly. Petty crime committed by the drug addled and socially depraved get huge “for profit” prison time for Press show but behind the scene operators take the hand off from Black Market, International and Corporate bagmen in both directions.
The same issues apply. Human trafficking, herion, methamphetamine, weapons, forged documents, sex slavery, organized gang crime, cross border auto theft, for profit kidnap, govt. contract, welfare, Medicade fraud. Organized gang theft and murder for hire. Name it! Those not living in protected financial residential enclaves are fair game. The public school system is nothing more than a criminal recruitment/training center. Prison personnel represent one of the most powerfull political voices in the State. Like Eastern Europe the line between organized crime and Government is ever more blurred and the social and civil wealth of the region is sucked upward and away from those who labor and struggle to maintain the last remnants of civilized life. Police State violence and citizen murder is common. Prison/Black Market culture has evolved an entire new social caste of wealth and affluence.
Class and ethnic war is rampant. In California and across America Latino Communist/Socialist organizers maintain cross border contact with Marxist guerrilla groups and extreme factions even demand recognition of California as a separate Nation. Black unemployment is double that of other communities and depends on the Black Market for survival. Increasingly, the only average Americans who enjoy home ownership, health benefits, retirement and access to education for their children is a special bureaucratic class of workers who survive on Federal and State Tax dollars. They represent the last of a dying middle class. Everyone else lives between the cracks.
All this is the result of corrupt American political leadership controlled by the merger of International Finance, Black Market crime, Corporate greed and the intentional destruction and looting of the American economic base. Now add the MIC and wars bound to bankrupt the Nation.
Ask yourself why you can’t have: health care, a living wage, sane drug and immigration law, Campaign Finance Reform, access to good education, enforced financial oversight and regulation of Wall Street, Social Security, life, liberty or happiness. Other modern nations all do. Who speaks for you? Who in Washington gives a #@%k about you at all.
Report thisBy Bronwen Rowlands, October 19, 2010 at 5:17 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Mr Boyarsky,
Report thisHave you ever BEEN to California? Or have you just seen a Powerpoint
presentation about it and taken it up as a hobby?
By Robespierre115, October 19, 2010 at 1:50 am Link to this comment
California is a failed state, literally a Third World state at this point in terms of rich-poor gap and social conditions. Nothing will change until the people revolt and lynch the politicians, sorry that’s just reality. Some people are afraid of stuff like the French Revolution? Too bad.
Report thisBy Hammond Eggs, October 18, 2010 at 9:31 pm Link to this comment
Neither one of these candidates has anything to offer. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Report thisBy gerard, October 18, 2010 at 7:17 pm Link to this comment
In tough times, nobody does anything creative unless they are desperate, and then there’s no guarantee whether it will be legal or not. Msst people are too scared to be creative, and that’s part of the problem—and part of why the “powers that be” keep people scared. Creataivity is the maker of change.
Report this“Powers that be” don’t want change because it threatens their power.
Creativity comes from men who have a sense for the future and courage enough to do the right thing in the right way. It comes from women who are determined that their children will grow up in a world of peace, notdie in a world of war. It comes from young people who have everything to gain and nothing to lose by listening, learning and leading.