Paradise Lost

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Paradise Lost

Peter Schrag presents the ills of California current politics in an angry and
persuasive tone. He says California used to be both model and magnet for the
nation—in its economic opportunities, its social outlook, and its high-quality
public services and institutes; however, California started to fade after the
passage of Proposition 13, the initiative of tax limits (7). Schrag work clearly
shows what is the problem in today California, and it is easy to understand even
for those who have little knowledge of politics. By focusing on issues of gneopopulism
which is easy to find in California diversity, he succeeds in giving his readers
the sense of crisis not only about California politics, but also the national
wide politics because California is the place where the new American society
is first coming into full view (23). Schrag says, about California politics,
that: For nearly a generation, there has been increasing focus among scholars,
politicians, and journalists on the growing gaps in California—ethic, social,
economic—between those who exercise political power and the larger population,
and particularly those who are the most immediate users of its public services.
What has gotten little discussion is the dynamic of the plebiscite process
itself. While it`s ad hoc in nature—each measure is decided by voters on its
own apparent merits without much reference to the wider context—it has a
larger cumulative effect through which statewide majorities restrict the powers
of local political majorities, which are often nonwhite. Almost by definition,
it is also a device of impulse that tends to be only marginally respectful of
minority rights or interests, and that lends itself to demagogic wedge campaigns
designed to boost voter turnout for other political purpose. (21) Schrag divides
his project into five sections. The middle sections, the Spirit of 13,h and
march of the Plebiscites, in which he carefully discusses each important
measure in the last two decades, show why so many issues rose. In the first
section, golden Moment, Schrag describes California heyday of post-World War
‡U optimism and how it crumbled. Citations from magazines prove that
California was a really paradise even from the nationwide view. Schrag also
notices that the demographic change deeply relates to California politics in the
last two decades. The Watts riots, he tells us, was a reminder for millions of
new Californians and powerful signal that, for all its...

The complete article is about 1018 words and 4.07 pages long.

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