CA 2025

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CA 2025
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Inventing the DreamCalifornia Through the
Progressive Era
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Changes in Attitudes

• The depression of 1893 changed the attitude of
  middle-class people about poverty because they
  noticed that not only people who were lazy or
  unfit but also middle-class people could lose
  their jobs.

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Depression of 1893

• The hard times and utopian dreams that
  characterized the era were immortalized in L.
  Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

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The Progressive Era

• The years from 1900 to 1916 were called the
  Progressive Era because changes in people's
  attitudes produced gradual changes in how
  government helped citizens.
• Progressives believed that solving the problems
  needed government action.

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Good Government becamea focus of the middle-class

• Mayor Thomas Johnson was considered a good
  government candidate because he held public
  meetings for citizens to present their problems
  to government officials.
• Mayor Samuel Jones was also a good candidate
  because he set up free kindergartens and
  playgrounds and made the police give up their
  heavy clubs for lighter sticks and stop the
  practice of jailing people without charging them
  with a crime.

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Progressive Trust-Buster

• By 1906, Wisconsin Governor,Robert M. La
  Follette was gaining a nationwide reputation as a
  trust-buster
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• La Follette would be an influence on the newly
  elected CA Governor, Hiram Johnson

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• The political hold that the Southern Pacific
  Railroad held during the Gilded Age over
  California government came to a close with the
  election of Hiram Johnson as governor in
  November, 1910

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Give us a square deal ... for Christ's sake.

• With this prayer the chaplain of the
• legislature opened the 39th legislative
• session in 1911, one of the most
• productive in California history.

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The Legacy of the California Progressive Era

• One of the first reforms was a new California
  Railroad Commission to protect the public against
  price gouging by the railroad monopoly.
• The Railroad Commission quickly evolved into
  the California Public Utilities Commission and
  expanded its duties to protect consumers from
  similar tactics by electric and gas utility
  monopolies.

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The Legacy of the California Progressive Era

• Direct democracy was instituted, with
• the legislature incorporating the initiative,
• referendum and recall into the State's
• constitution.

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Living the DreamCalifornia Through the New
Deal Great Society Eras
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Pat Browns Legacy

• The Fair Housing Act
• The Fair Employment Act
• The Master Plan for Higher Education
• Highway Expansion
• The California Aqueduct

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What Happened to the Dream? California
Through the Post Great Society Era
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Infrastructure Funding Came to a Stop in the
1970's.

• Decreases in capital investment took place
  during the late 1960's signaled by Gov. Ronald
  Reagan's skepticism towards public spending.
• During his term, Gov. Jerry Brown slowed
  infrastructure finance under the belief that
  growth should not go on without limit.
• Inadequate funds for transportation growth
  along with Brown's support of environmental
  reviews and regulations led to fewer new
  highways. Environmental concerns also stopped the
  building of new water storage facilities.

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The 80s

• Water infrastructure issues became immensely
  complicated due to the strict guidelines of the
  Endangered Species Act and other environmental
  laws.
• Higher education system received significant cuts
  despite rising levels of enrollment.
• Highway expansion received very little funding
  due to inflation

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The 90s

• Infrastructure funding increased somewhat
  during the 1990s as California's economy took off
  and demand began to increase. However, existing
  infrastructure proved unable to accommodate the
  millions of new people in the state. Highways
  became congested, education enrollment
  skyrocketed and water supply issues multiplied.

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Proposition 13

• Proposition 13's passage in 1978 led to a
  sharp diminishment of infrastructure projects
  owing to the proposition's requirement of a
  majority for the passage of any new bonds or
  taxes. Many believe that Prop. 13's success is an
  indication of 1970's California voters
  dissatisfaction with government expansion.

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Redefining the California Dream for the 21st
Century
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The Problem

• By all accounts, government in California is
  in
• gridlock and unable to address critical issues
  
• facing our state. As a result, the California
  
• dream is at risk as difficult infrastructure
  and
• policy problems stack up.

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Citizens are Alienated by the Political Process

• From interactions with Sacramento to their
  local school boards, Californians are largely
  alienated by the political process, as evidenced
  by low voter turnout, opinion polls reflecting
  little confidence in the institutions of state
  government, the large number of ballot
  propositions, and the imposition of term limits
  on leaders. Special interests overwhelm any sense
  of the larger public interest.

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A New Set of Solutions

• New and developing tools of civic
  participation offer promise in reengaging the
  public in governance and bringing forward their
  common sense approaches to resolve tough
  issues.
• Research suggests that while political elites
  tend to polarize around ideology, everyday people
  are more interested in pragmatic approaches that
  work to improve things. Informed citizens can
  play a useful role in weighing values and
  expressing public judgments that might move tough
  issues toward resolution.

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Tools of Civic Participation

• Community Forums have been used in communities
  to work through difficult issues.
• Twenty-first Century Town Hall Meetings have
  brought citizens together to plan the rebuilding
  after a disaster, such as in New Orleans or New
  York city.

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Citizen Juries have helped officials understand
how informed public opinion could break through
gridlock and lead to solutions of tough policy
problems.Study Circles are used by many local
communities as part of their regular way of doing
business.
Tools of Civic Participation