Customer Reviews

California Politics: A Primer

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This concise treatment of California government and politics matched what I needed: something short, clear, sensibly organized, informative, and nonpartisan. Charts, columns, and diagrams help the reader visualize relationships between topics.

The author's even-handed account begins with an introduction to the topic, then unfolds a very brief history of state politics, an overview of direct democracy (initiative, referendum, recall, etc.), the branches of government, local and regional governments, a short chapter on California's (broken) budget process, a piece on political campaigns in CA, and some "Concluding Thoughts" about current paradoxes and future challenges.

There are also bits and pieces about the particularly Californian flavor of politics, such as a relatively weak emphasis on political parties (20% of voting Californians "Decline to State" party affiliation) combined, if paradoxically, with strong polarization, as when the Assembly's symbolic rejection of Prop 8, which made it illegal for gays to marry in California, included not a single Republican voice. I also like the author's eye for metaphor, whether speaking of political "earthquakes" or of our political future as being "at the edge," like the shape of California's coastline.