California's Woes

By Samantha Frank

California seems to be going through an extended midlife crisis, and is unable to find a sports car that is fast enough to satisfy. Our roads and public amenities are falling apart, our schools are among the worst in the nation, yet this is not the way that California used to be. Once upon a time in the 1940’s and 50’s, after the Second World War and before the impending midlife crisis, California was on top in all of the aforementioned areas. It is slightly shocking to think that this state has fallen so far in 60 years. It seems, however, that a large portion of the blame lies with us. We are the ones who elect the officials we end up hating into office, and we are the ones who vote propositions into law, such as prop 13. The enacting of prop 13 left California with quite a conundrum, our staunch attitude against taxes means that there is clearly less money to be brought in to maintain all of our once great public systems—yet we expect them to be maintained anyway. On top of it the funding that schools and transportation do receive seems to be misallocated so often that it is hard to get our states citizens to even consider putting money aside for them. For example, the high school I attended instead of using their state funding to hire good teachers or even use the money to keep the ones that they have, decided to use their “extra” funds to paint hideous (and expensive) murals on the sides of their buildings. Soon after they were forced to downsize their staff which caused classroom overcrowding and the overall quality of education to go down. It is easy to see why people would be hesitant to give more money. The chances, however, of pulling our state out of this mess without having to pay seem slim to none.

The citizens of California also seem to be in some state of denial in regards to the situation we are in. Peter Schrag points this out in Paradise Lost saying, “But no state has lived with such extraordinary expectations of social perfection or been subject to such large gaps between what its people once thought they ought, almost as a matter of right, to have, and the burdens they are willing to bear to get it.” The attitude of the people here, no matter what their walk of life it seems, is that the ease of the stereotypical “California lifestyle” should be handed to them while as little work as possible is done. We have also neglected to check our politicians. Our State Government has become as corrupt in its lawmaking as any other, allowing lobbyists and special interest groups to push measures onto ballots (sometimes sneakily attached to other bills), and we, as “the people” of the state pass them into law. Why are we not second guessing the motives behind what we are voting on and how is it that special interest groups can squeeze money out of this states citizens for their needs, but our educational and transportation systems cant? Have we become so jaded as a state that we have given up on its future and are willing to let things fall into irreversible decay?