Governor Jerry Brown: What Would Your Father Say?

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 replied.

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 was 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.

California is going from first to worst under your
tenure Governor Jerry Brown. What would your father say?