FREE ESSAY ON PARADISE LOST

PARADISE LOST

Peter Schrag presents the ills of California?fs current politics in an angry and
persuasive tone. He says California used to be ?gboth model and magnet for the
nation—in 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 shows what is
the problem in today?fs California, and it is easy to understand even for those who have
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
not only about California?fs politics, but also the national wide politics because
California is the place ?gwhere the new American society is first coming into full view?h
(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 plebiscitary process itself. While it?fs 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, ?gThe Spirit of 13,?h
and ?gMarch of the Plebiscites,?h in which he carefully discusses 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 paradise even
from the nationwide view. Schrag also notices that the demographic change deeply relates
to California?fs politics in the last two decades. The Watts riots, he tells us, was a
reminder for ?gmillions of new Californians?h and ?ga powerful signal that, for all its
sunshine and beauty, this new and fragile place provided no guarantee against the dark
and the demonic in American life?h (46). 
In the second section, ?gGood-bye El Dorado,?h Schrag focuses on the issues of public
services which he calls ?gMississippification,?h infrastructure, ?gthe fundamentally
changed government structure,?h and ?gsocial relations that California?fs tax revolt and
its political progeny have produced,?h especially he pays particularly close attention to
?gMississippification?h of the public school system. The budge for the educational system
use to be mostly financed by property taxation; however, the state government stopped to
spend enough money to keep the high quality educational system after Proposition 13
passed. He describes today?fs California schools as ?gmigrant camp—row after row of
drab wooden boxes of uncertain safety, most of them painted brown?h (83). It helps
imagine easily California?fs schools with high densities of children and poor conditions.
Older and affluent whites, Schrag tells us, care primarily about tax reduction, and they
had disproportionate power because the majority of voters were whites. Many measures
which reduced tax from rich people and increased from poor people, ?gwho use public
services but vote in much lower numbers,?h passed, with the result that the gap between
upper-middle class and low income class extended. Schrag shows important facts related to
that class issue and how that class issue affected public services including the
educational system. 
Schrag shows us the background of Proposition 13 and their direct effects in third
section, ?gThe Spirit of 13.?h He mentions the inflation in real estate values and
elderly homeowners who do not have school aged children. He says, ?ga growing share of
taxes was no longer going to schools and cops but to welfare and health, meaning to the
poor and to the new foreign immigrants—and that even when it went to schools, it
appeared increasingly to be schools for somebody else?fs children?h (139). This fact
makes much sense why old Californians wanted to reduce their property taxes even though
they knew that ?ganything terrible would happen to public services?h (149). Schrag also
tells how Proposition 13 seriously affected California?fs politics. The large political
power transferred from local government to Sacrament, and the power of all government to
control revenues was constricted. Controlling the public services of all over the state
without a control of revenues is much more difficult than manage the small district, like
counties and cities. Proposition 13 became ?gboth fact and symbol of a radical shift in
governmental priorities public attitudes, and social relationships that is as nearly
fundamental in American politics?h (132). Schrag discusses Proposition 218, and he says
that it ?ggave electoral privileges to the rich and wellborn?h (170).
In the next section, ?gMarch of the Plebiscites,?h Schrag focuses on ?gbroader
implication of California?fs orgy of plebiscites?h and discusses measure after the
passage of Proposition 13. He says that the voters have approved many initiatives ?gan
average of four in each two-year election cycle?h after Proposition 13 passed (194). What
becomes 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 amount 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 programs for low-income Californians precisely at the
time when California?fs demographic was changing rapidly. Politicians have been urging
white voters to cut back 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. 
Bibliography
Schrag, Peter. Paradise Lost: California?fs Experience, America?fs Future.New York: The
New Press. 1998