PBS recently broadcasted an informative and provocative documentary about former California Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown called “The California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown”.
A liberal organ such as PBS tends to demonize the right and conservatives, with a media bias toward activism and skewed minority outreach, spotlighting a few elites at the expense of every other individual within a select group. Talking heads like Bill Moyers hammer the right, yet even this left-leaning journalist from Texas has evinced a growing cynicism with the Democratic Party, which has joined hands with crony crapitalism at the expense of the common man and the common cause of the United States of America.
Still, “California State of Mind” was an engaging piece which outlined not just the turbulent histories made troubled under Governor “Pat” Brown, but also the seeds of dissent within the Democratic Party which today are shaping the culture of the state of California for the worse. Many would be stunned to learn that “Pat” was a Republican as a youth. Like many politicians, he gravitated toward the left because of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal”. Power corrupts, and nothing attracts men to government than a mantra of “public service” (on the taxpayer’s dime, of course). Still, some of Pat’s successes left their mark in their day.
The Rumford Act, one of Brown’s key achievements, spotlighted the racial tensions in California. Never should a property owner discriminate against someone because of race. Culture, character, but most importantly the ability to pay should determine whether a landlord rents out to a tenant or not. I believe that Governor Brown should have reached out voters first, then passed the law, but at least his heart was in the right place.
Later in his tenure, “Pat’s†diffidence on assisting minorities produced troubling results. While Pat was vacationing in Greece, the 1965 Watts riots destroyed huge swaths of South Los Angeles. Visiting the region against the advice of his staff, Brown asked one resident if they were receiving welfare:
“We don’t want welfare! We want jobs!” the protester shouted back.
The deep-set need of all men, regardless of their color, is a chance to thrive. Governor Pat Brown ignored this, and apparently so did his son and successor “Jerry”, who has done nothing to end the depressing “hand-out” cult in our state. A welfare state does not promote the general welfare. When will Democrats stop insulting voters and start expanding their opportunities to rise and prosper?
The California Aqueduct was long in coming, and Pat pushed for its construction. Los Angeles engineer William Mulholland’s construction projects were not adequate to supply the growing number of Americans pouring into the Golden State looking for water, but Pat shepherded the necessary legislation through Sacramento and established an aqueduct program which supplied Southern California. Today, the state struggles with water needs outflowing water supply, and the crumbling infrastructure remains impervious to political solutions, much of which rests on the crumbling comity and respect for the voters in Sacramento, now made worse with a tax-and-spend Democratic supermajority.
Pat’s “Master Plan” for education was a wise stroke. A public university has advantages, like attracting students with lower tuition. Yet subsidizing education has made tuition costly and today has delayed many youth from achieving their career goals, while permitting a lackadaisical cohort to game the system and gain nothing but debt. Pat’s “Master Plan” is falling into shambles, as more graduating youth cannot afford to go to college, or they cannot find a job which to pay the exorbitant and rising cost of post-secondary education. Pat’s son Jerry has done nothing but ask for more money from taxpayers, while telling students that they will have to sit and wait their turn, which is taking longer with every year.
The highway system which Governor Brown enacted (with help from Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s legislation, no doubt) expanded thousands of miles of freeway concourses throughout the state. When will his son Jerry expand on this legacy and grant relief for commuters fed up with the commotion, pollution, and frustration of our not-so freeways?
Under Pat, more people streamed into California than any other state in the Union. Under Jerry, an unprecedented population is leaving. Businesses thrived under Pat, while under Jerry, they are taking a dive. Pat supported businesses, including agricultural firms during his tenure, and he even resisted meeting with farm labor leader Cesar Chavez. Today, the unions have intimidated the leadership in Sacramento, and Jerry has done nothing to resist their drag on the state’s entitlement system and skewed taxation schemas.
Pat wanted to make the Golden State a land of Golden Opportunity, and California became first in the nation. Under son Jerry, the Golden State is tarnished with debt, deficits, and government dysfunction, and now California is one of the worst. More people are leaving than entering, and Jerry has done little to turn the trends stressing businesses, destroying jobs, and diminishing opportunities for California residents.
Governor Jerry Brown, California is going from first to worst under your tenure. What would your father say?
