The Beholden State

California’s Lost Promise and How to Recapture It

Edited by Brian C. Anderson - Contributions by Steven Malanga; William Voegeli; Joel Kotkin; Wendell Cox; Arthur B. Laffer; Steven Greenhut; Victor Davis Hanson; Heather Mac Donald; Larry Sand; Troy Senik; Andrew Klavan; Tom Gray; Ben Boychuk; John Buntin; Michael Anton and Guy Sorman

California is at a tipping point. Severe budget deficits, unsustainable pension costs, heavy taxes, cumbersome regulation, struggling cities, and distressed public schools are but a few of the challenges that policymakers must address for the state to remain a beacon of business innovation and economic opportunity. City Journal has for years been cataloging the political and economic issues of our nation's largest metropolitan areas, and in this collection compiled and introduced by City Journal editor Brian C. Anderson, the cracks in California's flawed policy plans are displayed in detail, and analyzed by a diverse set of experts in the state's design.

The list of contributors includes:

Steven Malanga, William Voegeli, Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox, Arthur B. Laffer, Steven Greenhut, Victor Davis Hanson, Heather Mac Donald, John Buntin, Ben Boychuk, Tom Gray, Andrew Klavan, Troy Senik, Larry Sand, Michael Anton, and Guy Sorman.

While there is plenty of literature on California’s history, topography, and attractions, The Beholden State: California's Lost Promise and How to Recapture It is the first book examining in rigorous detail how a place seen just a generation ago as the dynamic engine of the American future could, through bad policy ideas, find itself with among the highest unemployment rates and poorest educational outcomes in the country. The book is as thoroughly analytical as it is pragmatically proscriptive, complete with policy solutions mapping the way forward for a struggling state.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Manhattan Institute

Pages: 344 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-4422-2343-1 • Hardback • June 2013 • $46.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-4422-2344-8 • eBook • June 2013 • $43.50 • (£33.00)

Subjects: Political Science / American Government / State, Political Science / Civics & Citizenship, Political Science / Public Policy / City Planning & Urban Development

The Beholden State

California’s Lost Promise and How to Recapture It

Hardback

eBook

Summary

California is at a tipping point. Severe budget deficits, unsustainable pension costs, heavy taxes, cumbersome regulation, struggling cities, and distressed public schools are but a few of the challenges that policymakers must address for the state to remain a beacon of business innovation and economic opportunity. City Journal has for years been cataloging the political and economic issues of our nation's largest metropolitan areas, and in this collection compiled and introduced by City Journal editor Brian C. Anderson, the cracks in California's flawed policy plans are displayed in detail, and analyzed by a diverse set of experts in the state's design.

The list of contributors includes:

Steven Malanga, William Voegeli, Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox, Arthur B. Laffer, Steven Greenhut, Victor Davis Hanson, Heather Mac Donald, John Buntin, Ben Boychuk, Tom Gray, Andrew Klavan, Troy Senik, Larry Sand, Michael Anton, and Guy Sorman.

While there is plenty of literature on California’s history, topography, and attractions, The Beholden State: California's Lost Promise and How to Recapture It is the first book examining in rigorous detail how a place seen just a generation ago as the dynamic engine of the American future could, through bad policy ideas, find itself with among the highest unemployment rates and poorest educational outcomes in the country. The book is as thoroughly analytical as it is pragmatically proscriptive, complete with policy solutions mapping the way forward for a struggling state.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Manhattan Institute

Pages: 344 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-4422-2343-1 • Hardback • June 2013 • $46.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-4422-2344-8 • eBook • June 2013 • $43.50 • (£33.00)

Subjects: Political Science / American Government / State, Political Science / Civics & Citizenship, Political Science / Public Policy / City Planning & Urban Development

Author

Brian C. Anderson is the editor of City Journal, the cultural and political quarterly published by the Manhattan Institute, where he writes extensively on social and political trends. Formerly, he served as senior editor of City Journal and as a research associate at the American Enterprise Institute.

Table of Contents

Contents
Preface | William Simon
Introduction | Brian C. Anderson

Part I: The Politics and Economics of Decline
The Golden State’s War on Itself | Joel Kotkin
The Big-Spending, High-Taxing, Lousy-Services Paradigm | William Voegeli
The Beholden State | Steven Malanga
Cali to Business: Get Out! | Steven Malanga
The Long Stall | Wendell Cox
The Pension Fund That Ate California | Steven Malanga
Flatten California! | Arthur B. Laffer
The Radical Reform That California Needs | Troy Senik

Part II: The Urban Fiscal Crisis
Lost Angeles | Joel Kotkin
How the Road to Bell Was Paved | William Voegeli
Broken Windows, Broken City | Steven Greenhut

Part III: Public Order
The Reclamation of Skid Row | Heather Mac Donald
The LAPD Remade | John Buntin
The Sidewalks of San Francisco | Heather Mac Donald

Part IV: Of Energy and Environment
California Needs a Crude Awakening | Tom Gray
California’s Water Wars | Victor Davis Hanson

Part V: Immigration Dilemmas
The Rainbow Coalition Evaporates | Steven Malanga
California’s Demographic Revolution | Heather Mac Donald

Part VI: Education
The Worst Union in America | Troy Senik
The Bilingual Ban That Worked | Heather Mac Donald
The Union’s Occupation | Ben Boychuk
HED TK | Ben Boychuk
Grading the Teachers | Larry Sand
HED TK | Heather Mac Donald

Part VII: The Culture
The Lost Art of War | Andrew Klavan
Radical Graffiti Chic | Heather Mac Donald
Tom Wolfe’s California | Michael Anton

Part VIII: Keep Hope Alive
The Silicon Lining | Guy Sorman
California, Here We Stay | Victor Davis Hanson

Reviews

California was once regarded as a model for the nation; trends that started here swept the continent. Today we can only hope this is not true; but as The Beholden State powerfully shows, if California is still a model, the nation is in deep trouble. The stunning swiftness by which California went from being Reagan's "shining city on a hill" to Detroit-by-the-Sea is an object lesson for the rest of the nation on how quickly bad public policy can squander the bounty of nature and the productivity of its creative citizens.

— Steven F. Hayward, University of California, Berkely

The editors and writers of New York's sprightly City Journal have gone west, young man, and have returned with a gold nugget of political wisdom. How California became a basket case, and why it needn't remain one—these are the twin veins worked in this sobering and inspiring volume. No one concerned with the future of California and the nation can afford to ignore The Beholden State.
— Charles Kesler, Claremont McKenna College