California Crackup

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Is California beyond repair? A sizable number of Golden State citizens have concluded that it is. Incessant budget crises plus a government paralyzed by partisan gridlock have led to demands for reform, even a constitutional convention. But what, exactly, is wrong and how can we fix it? InCalifornia Crackup, Joe Mathews and Mark Paul provide clear and informed answers. Their fast-paced and often humorous narrative deftly exposes the constitutional origins of our current political and economic problems--from the ugly 1879 constitutional convention to Hiram Johnson's Progressive reforms to the Proposition 13 property tax revolt and its legacy of voter initiatives. Mathews and Paul then furnish a uniquely California fix: innovative solutions that allow Californians to debate their choices, settle on the best ones, hold elected officials accountable for results, and choose anew if something doesn't work. Concise, lively, and provocative,California Crackupoffers something new: a genuinely democratic operating system for the state.

Joe Mathews is Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He is the author of The People's Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy, a columnist for The Daily Beast, and a freelance journalist.
Mark Paul is senior scholar and deputy director of the California program at the New America Foundation. He was formerly deputy treasurer of California and deputy editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee.