Paradise Lost Essay -- essays research papers

Peter Schrag presents the ills of calcium?fs current politics in an wild and persuasive tone. He says atomic number 20 used to be ?gboth model and magnet for the nationin its economic opportunities, its social outlook, and its high-quality public services and institutes?h however, California started to fade after the passage of Proposition 13, the initiative of tax limits (7). Schrag?fs work clearly argues what is the problem in today?fs California, and it is easy to understand even for those who excite little knowledge of politics. By focusing on issues of ?gneopopulism?h which is easy to find in California?fs diversity, he succeeds in giving his readers the sense of crisis non only about California?fs politics, but also the national wide politics because California is the place ?gwhere the new American society is first approach into full view?h (23). Schrag says, about California politics, that For nearly a generation, there has been increasing focus among scholars, politic ians, and journalists on the growing gaps in California value orientation, social, economicbetween those who exercise political power and the big population, and particularly those who are the most immediate users of its public services. What has gotten little discussion is the dynamic of the plebiscitary process itself. fleck it?fs ad hoc in natureeach measure is decided by voters on its own apparent merits without much reference to the wider contextit 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 pulse 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 design into five sections. The middle sections, ?gThe Spirit of 13,?h and ?gMarch of the Plebiscites,?h in which he carefully di scusses each important measure in the last two decades, show why so many issues rose. In the first section, ?gGolden Moment,?h Schrag describes ?gCalifornia?fs heyday of post-World War U optimism?h and how it crumbled. Citations from magazines prove that California was a really promised land even from the nationwide view. Schrag also notices that the demographic change deeply relates to California?fs politics in the last t... ...comes clear in this chapter is that the plebiscitary process is problem in California. Most voters and a large portion of media pay attention not on the government and the social welfare, but on their individual benefits. Much criterion of money was spent on each measure, and supporters and opponents vehemently argued by using the mass media. Schrag says that the state government of California became a ?gmedia-based?h government. It is clear that California had anti-immigrants climate by Schrag?fs selection of measures. California politicians attacked pro grams for low-income Californians precisely at the time when California?fs demographic was changing rapidly. Politicians have been urging white voters to cut rachis on beneficial public services to original Californians. Finally, Schrag concludes his work with some suggestions for ?gthe possibilities for a new political integration and a revitalized social ethic in California?h while he describes ?gthe contrary forces pushing even further toward a market-based governmental ethic?h (20). His work gives us a good opportunity for rethinking recent California and how voters, not only California?fs voters but also the others, should be.