Paradise Lost: California's Experience, America's Future - Hardcover

Schrag, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565843576 ISBN 13: 9781565843578

Publisher: The New Press, 1998

Synopsis

In the years after World War II, California, always regarded as an experiment for the American future, became an encouraging model for the nation. It was admired and envied for the quality of its education system, its environment, and its progressive social outlook. However, beginning with the passage of the tax-cutting Proposition 13 in 1978, and continuing through a barrage of voter initiatives, the state has pursued a determined course of retrenchment and reaction, sending it tumbling to the bottom of the nation’s“quality of life” ratings.

In Paradise Lost, Peter Schrag examines the relationship between the politics of that retrenchment and the great demographic changes of recent decades. His book makes a powerful case for reinvigorating our traditional structures of representative government against the increasing power of “populism” that is often disdainful of minority rights and interests. It shows that California is still a test for the nation, and a frightening indicator of our society’s readiness to assimilate and serve its new citizens.

About this title

Review:

In Paradise Lost veteran Sacramento journalist Peter Schrag reports on the dark side of populism in America's Golden State. California in the 1950s seemed a land of limitless potential, boosted by world-class public services and Progressive politics; today, however, its future hardly seems unbounded, its services are in shambles, and its politics are increasingly driven by rancor. Schrag places much of the blame on the state's penchant for ballot initiatives, in which citizens can bypass the legislative process and place questions directly to voters. Through a series of antitax and term-limits campaigns, he argues, these initiatives have done serious damage to the notion of representative democracy in the state. Schrag is a liberal, so not everybody will agree with his conclusions, but he is a thoughtful writer who reminds us that the United States often follows California's lead. Says Schrag, "Things had better work here, where the new American society is first coming into full view, because if it fails here, it may never work anywhere else either."

About the Author:

Peter Schrag was for nineteen years the editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee. He is the author of many books, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

About this edition

• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1565843576
• ISBN 13: 9781565843578
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 344