What Does California Need to Succeed - A Book Review

By Lance Winslow
Perhaps, you realize that California State Government is in a huge financial crisis, one which has continued through several governors, and cost one Governor his governorship, as he was voted out of office and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger. And yet still, the same fiscal challenges go on today, the gridlock in Sacramento is well known, and looks like it will continue to go on well into the future.

How did we get to here, where are we going in the future, and why hasn't all this already been fixed?

These are all complicated and complex problems. However, there is a very good book I'd like you to read which was written back in 2000. It explains the issues that occurred in the 1990s and the warnings and challenges for the new millennium. It's good to read about what happened previously, so we can understand how we got into this situation, and perhaps, why we went down the wrong road, and how to get back on track. The book that I'd like to recommend to you is called;

"California in the New Millennium - The Changing Social and Political Landscape" by Mark Baldassare, co-published with The Public Policy Institute of California; University Of California Press Los Angeles, California, 2000; (265 pp), ISBN: 0-520-22512-0.

This author takes a hard look at California's financing, and the challenges ahead. He is also an author of the book; "When Governments Fail: the Orange County Bankruptcy" published in 1998. He also wrote another book which I don't own but I'd like to find called; "Paradise: The Suburban Transformation in America," published in 1986.

When reading this book I was totally amazed at all the things that Mark got right, and all the challenges he outlined ahead, my only question is why did no one listen? I wonder if Tom McClintock has read this book, and if those are the reasons he made the statements he did during the last election when Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected. It seemed at the time that only, McClintock fully understood the fiscal responsibility, which would be necessary to take California into the future. After reading this book, it appears to me that this is the foundation of our errors, and more folks should understand these things/

The author warns about the changes in ethnic diversity facing California's future. Also how that will affect what is needed in the future. He goes through the statistics and demographics of the Latino population, and its rapid expansion, high birth rates, and the need for schools. How education will be paramount. He also talks about the racial divides, the incredible political distrust, and the challenges we face in California due to the division between the left-leaning Northern California, and the rest of Southern California's middle of the road and conservative and liberal mixed base.

There are nearly 120 pages of statistics, surveys, and summaries of how all the data was collected. In many cases this book is more of a research project than anything else, but the commentary within the book is absolutely incredible, it appears he is right on the money, it's just too bad no one was listening. I believe anyone who is running for public office, or running any agency in the great state of California needs to read this book. I also believe that county supervisors should be reading this book along with all the city managers.

Indeed, I am glad to have this book in my personal library, and I see many of the challenges in California as future challenges for other states. It would be silly for governors of other states not to read this book, or have it in their personal public-policy library. It is very telling, and very commanding. It's hard to debate much of anything in here, and even if you don't agree with the author's particular political persuasion or point of view, you have to understand his fiscal advice. We all need to think about this now, due to our current financial crisis. And, we cannot hide our heads in the sand, which the author himself warns, it is time that these issues were addressed, which is exactly as he stated back in 2000. Now, it's a decade later, but there is still time to fix things. So, I hope you will please consider all this.