California Comeback
How a "Failed State" Became a Model for the Nation
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1.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An in-depth look at California's remarkable 21st century turnaround, focusing on the role played by the state government under Jerry Brown.
In the most economically important state in the country—and the 7th largest economy in the world—a political revolution of historic importance has occurred which has not been sufficiently covered by the media. In the state where the Reagan Revolution was born, there has recently occurred a remarkable progressive revolution under the leadership of another governor, four-term Democrat Jerry Brown.
Over the past several decades, as it has evolved from a red state to solid blue, California has boldly reinvigorated the notion that government is not a dirty word but rather an instrument for uniting people and improving their lives.
From raising taxes on those with annual incomes over $250,000, to shifting money toward the schools in low-income communities, from seeking environmental alliances with other countries to limit climate change, to the rejection of militaristic solutions to illegal immigration, California has been a laboratory of innovation.
Californians have rejected the "race to the bottom" right-wing philosophy that catapulted conservative politics in recent years. That model of endorsing privatization, deregulation, reductions in government spending, and a tax system that disproportionately favors the wealthy, is exemplified by conservative governors and rejected by the pragmatic liberal Jerry Brown.
In California Comeback, award-winning journalist Narda Zacchino, who has covered California politics for over three decades, clearly lays out the history of California's initial experiments with progressivism under Brown, its swing to the right under Reagan, near financial collapse under Schwarzenegger, and recent return to stability—bulwarked but the progressive policies made possible by the second coming of Jerry Brown. This progressive mindset, forged in the crucible of the tumultuous last half century, is California's true contribution not only to the country, but to the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Los Angeles Times veteran Zacchino does a workmanlike job of presenting the recent history of the Golden State, in service of her contention that its current left-leaning political orientation is a model to be emulated. Readers unfamiliar with the consequences of Enron's fraudulent manipulation of the energy market or of Proposition 13, the 1978 law that capped property taxes and wrecked the state's budget, will find both clearly explained here. Current governor Jerry Brown, himself the son of a California governor, is the hero of the book. Zacchino traces his complicated political trajectory elected in 1974, out by 1983, and reelected in 2010 culminating with his successful push for passage in 2012 of Proposition 30, by which Californians approved a major tax increase to fund basic services. Zacchino does a balanced job of portraying a talented politician who achieved the seemingly impossible. The force of her analysis, however, is vitiated by hyperbolic claims that California is "the key test case" for the entire planet as to whether a "multicultural, democratic, and postindustrial society" can endure in today's globalized world.
