THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VI, Issue # 37, February 20, 2004
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
CALIFORNIA POLITICS -- A POLITICAL GUIDE TO
THE GOLDEN STATE: A BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEWED:The California Republic, ed. by Brian Janiskee & Ken Masugi. Claremont Institute, 2004. 388 pages.
REVIEWER: Ken Masugi
The election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California still leaves one incredulous. How was such an extraordinary
development possible -- the replacement of a recently re-elected Governor by a political novice, albeit a well-known one? Just
published, The California Republic explains how this came to be. My co-editor, Professor Brian Janiskee, and I recruited
eminent authorities who explained the theory of recall and other California constitutional peculiarities. Our 388-page book also
covers prominent California political personalities, current politics, and contemporary policy issues, including taxes, civil rights,
and education.
It is often argued that what happens in California, politically or culturally, shapes America's and the world's future. We contend
that California politics has developed in ways unique to the Golden State, from its founding during the Gold Rush and Antebellum
days, through the tax revolt of Proposition 13 and the recall of Governor Gray Davis. Nevertheless, the Progressivism we see at
work in our study of California does have national implications, which our distinguished contributors are quick to point out.
The contributors to the volume range from scholars to public policy activists. We read, among others, preeminent California
political journalist Dan Walters on the State Legislature, anti-racial preferences leader Ward Connerly on civil rights, farmer and military
historian Victor Davis Hanson on agriculture, and Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal on the tax revolt.
In the section on statesmanship, political commentator Jack Pitney offers a study of Richard Nixon, while noted Ronald Reagan
biographer Steven Hayward presents a study of the role of Reagan in transforming California politics. Scot Zentner recalls the
significance of the inventor of the recall -- Governor and Senator Hiram Johnson. Distinguished constitutional historians Herman
Belz, Gordon Lloyd, Ralph Rossum, and Edward Erler present elaborate discussions of the development of California
constitutional history -- how its history and past politics lead to its present, fascinating, and often frustrating policies.
Among the Claremont Institute scholars represented in this volume are Institute President Brian Kennedy on the Governor's office,
John Marini on the films of John Ford and Sam Peckinpah, Larry Peterman on education, Daniel Palm on firearms regulation, Erler
on the initiative and referendum, and Janiskee on local government. Professor Richard Reeb contributes essays on the 2002
elections and the media, California historian Stephen Schwartz reflects on the state's radical past, professor Ric Williams notes the
peculiar significance of water policy, and attorney Harold Johnson synthesizes his reflections on the courts.
Brian Janiskee and I take pleasure in distinguished scholar and Claremont Review of Books editor Charles Kesler's praise of our work:
"The most interesting book on California politics in decades, and the only volume that weaves together the state's constitutional
origins and development with discerning accounts of its major political figures and contemporary political issues." Ken Grubbs, Jr.,
director of the National Journalism Center and former Orange County Register editorial writer, adds that The California
Republic is "critical to your understanding of a perplexing and wonderful land."
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Political Competition
The foregoing book report by Ken Masugi was originally published in the February 18, 2004, issue of Precepts, a publication
of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. The Claremont Institute, a Conservative political,
cultural, and educational organization in the U.S.A., describes its central purpose as the mission "to restore the principles of the
American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life." Committed to American constitutionalism and
republicanism as well as representative democracy, the Institute's mission statement declares: "America's Founders endowed our
Republic with sound principles and a framework for governing that is unmatched in the history of mankind. The prosperity and
freedom of America can only be made secure if they are guided by a return to these basic principles as our country enters the 21st.
cebtury."
Ken Masugi is the Director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Local Government, and is an associate editor of the Claremont
Review of Books. He is the co-author of Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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