When the first forty-niners began to trickle into California in search of gold, the Central Valley was a fertile expanse of grasslands and marshes home to thousands of deer, tule elk, and grizzly bears — an American Serengeti. Within a century, the region radically transformed into a cornucopia of industrial agriculture to feed the state’s […]
Tag: Jerry Brown
California’s Push for Performance in Higher Education
Over the past decades, reforms to implement performance-based funding (PBF) programs have been sweeping across the nation. California, joining 36 other states, is the most recent to switch to a PBF model for their higher education system. This legislation intends to link funding with specific measurable outcomes to ensure that public stakeholders receive the greatest […]
Did the Politicalization of the Supreme Court Start in California?
Where California goes, so goes the nation. We have all heard this statement, but the question is, is it true? In the case of the increasing politicization of the United States Supreme Court, this certainly seems to be the case. This story goes beyond Brett Kavanaugh and his sexual assault allegations and in fact, starts […]
Did California Just Cash Out?
On August 28th, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 10 to eliminate cash bail in in the state. After advocating for the removal of cash bail since the late 1970s, the new legislation will go into effect starting October 2019. Today, cash bail is seen as a predatory institution that has directly targeted and predominantly […]
Jerry Brown’s Last Hurrah
By Jacob Ganz The following article was written for Berkeley Political Review as part of a monthly collaboration with Davis Political Review. Jerry Brown is California’s indomitable winner. For over five decades, Brown has been an indelible presence in politics. Now, as he enters the last months of his final term as governor, he faces the last […]
Icing Out ICE
As congressional candidates throughout the country campaign this fall, immigration will inevitably be one of the issues most debated and discussed. Over the past decade, immigration has ballooned from a civil debate with some level of bipartisan agreement to a flashpoint in a national culture war, with President Trump as the ideologue fanning the flames […]
Avoiding Traffic at All Costs: Is The Bullet Train Worth It?
Imagine this — you arrive in Los Angeles from San Francisco in a mere three-hour train ride to hang out on the beach with your friends. No painful six-hour drive or delayed flights, but rather, a trip that gets you to your destination as painless and quick as possible. The thought of having a train […]
Turning the Golden State Green: California’s Reputation as an Environmental Savior
In the wake of an environmentally-hostile federal administration, California has all but been crowned the sustainable savior of the United States, largely due to its long history of climate change policy and strong rhetoric of the state’s leaders at present. The state has been set up as something of a resistance leader, meant to guide […]
M, F, or X: The New Third Gender Option in California
Male or Female. Check one. A perfunctory flick of the wrist, and onto the next question. For many, filling out government forms constitutes a mechanical, mind-numbing experience, about as intellectually stimulating as watching paint dry. Yet the empty boxes awaiting their desired check mark are not so innocuous as many assume. They compose a restrictive […]
Sanctuary Showdown: Jerry Brown versus Donald Trump
On October 5, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown openly defied the federal government. With the passage of State Senate Bill 54, California became a sanctuary state in direct defiance of President Donald Trump’s stringent immigration policies. However, while this seemingly appears to be a bold and unprecedented action on the part of California, the idea of sanctuary […]
Presidential Election Primaries: The Struggle for Influence
For nearly a century, a well-established political institution within the United States, the presidential primaries, has convinced many in its influential power to decide the nominee for each political party’s presidential candidate. The deeply-rooted drive for a greater influence on the outcome of the presidential election recently drove California to pass new legislation that would […]
Remembering Moonbeam: The Legacy of Jerry Brown
In 1975, a strange and eccentric character ascended to the Capitol building in Sacramento. Nicknamed “Governor Moonbeam”, this young upstart of a politician was a new type of executive: he didn’t live in the Governor’s Mansion, he drove an economy-class car, and he walked to work. Yet Jerry Brown’s unorthodox habits […]
The Gun Violence Restraining Order: Necessity or Over-Prevention?
On September 30th, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill titled “Gun Violence Restraining Order” (AB 1014), making California the first state to permit such a law. This bill allows Californians to petition to revoke firearms temporarily from relatives whom they fear might be mentally unstable or a threat to the public. Assemblywoman Barbara Skinner […]
Why America’s Call for LGBTQ Rights is Insincere
Recently, a couple walking on the street was brutally beaten up for being gay. Under the region’s laws, their attackers were charged with temperate laws as opposed to harsh ones because LGBTQ discrimination is not punishable by law. It might be surprising to find out that this incident took place in the United States and […]
Tenure on Trial
In 2012, a study of fifteen year-olds from 34 developed countries ranked U.S. students 17th, scoring 25th in math, 17th in science, and 14th in reading. Yet the U.S. ranked 5th in spending for students. As a student from Los Angeles Unified School District, these dismal scores make complete sense to me. Amid the constant […]