Beholden State California's Lost Promise and How to Recapture It

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, William Simon Distinguished Visiting Professor, Pepperdine University Graduate School of Public Policy, Senior Fellow, Pacific Research Institute 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