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| California: America's High-Stakes Experiment | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter Schrag
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $11.50
You Save: $7.45 (39%)
New (26) Used (9) from $9.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 232317
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.8
ISBN: 0520254058
Dewey Decimal Number: 320
EAN: 9780520254053
ASIN: 0520254058
Publication Date: January 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Peter Schrag takes on the big issues--immigration, globalization, and the impact of California's politics on its quality of life--in this dynamic account of the Golden State's struggle to recapture the American dream. In the past half-century, California has been both model and anti-model for the nation and often the world, first for its high level of government and public services--schools, universities, highways--and latterly for its dysfunctional government, deteriorating services, and sometimes regressive public policies. California explains how many current "solutions" exacerbate the very problems they're supposed to solve and analyzes a variety of possible state and federal policy alternatives to restore government accountability and a vital democracy to the nation's most populous state and the world's fifth-largest economy.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Fine factual summary, doomsday analysis is rigid and simplistic July 10, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
California was once the greatest place in the world, this book argues, blessed not only with a fabulous climate and wonderful opportunity, but with noble and gifted political leaders, who had the vision and the courage to create the world's best schools, highways and other public services. Proposition 13, however, expelled California from Eden, the book argues, by bringing to an end well-funded government. Now, the book argues, we have a deeply dysfunctional state, in which the voters demand a high level of public service, but refuse to pay for it by raising taxes. Making things even worse, the formerly all-white paradise, now has poor immigrants from every where on Earth -- but most particularly from Mexico -- and their demands on the state sink its finances even further into the mud, at the same time that they make the Anglos who still dominate the vote less and less inclined to raise taxes to pay for services to all of these foreigners. To put the capper on it, the State's political system is utterly dysfunctional, as stubborn Republicans use their veto to prevent the all-important raise in taxes, and selfish interest groups fund one crazy proposition after another. In short, the center can not hold, chaos is let loose on the world, or at least California.
That is the book, in a nutshell. I have mixed feelings about it. On the plus side, Schraug really knows his stuff. This book is well-researched and factually well grounded. As a good, quick introduction to political, social and demographic changes in California of late, this book is very valuable.
On the negative side, the doomsday analysis is just another example of arrogant liberals, who just won't listen. Schraug's frame of analysis is simple. Governors like Pat Brown, who raised taxes and built things, were wonderful. We need them again. The high-tax, high-service model is the only one that he acknowledges as rational or worthy. He does acknowledge, of course, that since Prop 13 in 1978, that model is politically dead. He reacts to Prop 13 and its legacy, however, not with any creativity or new ideas, but basically by sitting down and crying because the good old days are now gone. It the same old liberal song. Everything would be perfect, if the damm voters would just vote the right way. In this case, if the voters had raised taxes on themselves, as Schraug believes they should have, then everything would be cool. Since the voters will not do this, we are doomed, doomed, doomed.
Maybe there is a third alternative? Maybe there is some way to keep taxes low, yet not have society go to hell? Maybe funding ever-larger and more expensive bureaucracies is not the only way, or even the best way, to solve our problems? Schraug does not want to hear about that. If he can't have Pat Brown back, he wants no substitutes.
 A fine survey of investment, dysfunction, and success August 19, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
From immigration to changing California politics and focus, Peter Schrag surveys the major issues affecting the state, providing an analysis of political, social and technological issues that are affecting California's livability and direction. Schrag was the editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee for 19 years: his perspective provides a long-term analysis which takes into account past efforts and changing modern focuses alike, with a position near the state's capital offering many close inspections of politics and policy-makers. A fine survey of investment, dysfunction, and success evolves.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
 Peter Schrag should move July 8, 2006
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
The author of this book had a chance to say something insightful and profound about California's recent past and its future, but he failed to do that. Instead he just rehashed arguments that he made in his last book, "Paradise Lost," which wasn't as bad as this one.
One of the most annoying things about this book is how Schrag uses quotes from academics when what the academics say is common knowledge. In these cases, Schrag shows his background as a newspaper man, but it is to his detriment. Don't read this book unless you have to for school (like me)
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