Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye
With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages.
Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down.
Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.
On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.
F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!). We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.
Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey. The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.
Who Is Our Bernie?
You look at the growing list of contenders for the California governorship in 2018. And then you look at presidential race, and it feels like there’s something missing here.
Where is our Bernie?
There are plenty of Democrats who look like contenders. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is already running. Former L.A. Mayor and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang seem very close to jumping in. Tom Steyer is behaving like a prospective candidate. So is former Controller Steve Westly.
But none of these is a socialist, even a democratic one. All carry some moderate views. Newsom is running on his reputation for being out front on progressive issues from marriage equality to gun control, but he’s also a businessman who has made a point of wanting to simplify and improve business regulation. (more…)
We Now Join the U.S. Class War Already in Progress
Neither Trump nor Sanders started the nation’s current class war—the biggest fight over class since the New Deal—but both candidates, as different as they are, have benefited.
Class is back. Arguably, for the first time since the New Deal, class is the dominant political issue. Virtually every candidate has tried appealing to class concerns, particularly those in the stressed middle and lower income groups. But the clear beneficiaries have been Trump on the right and Sanders on the left.
Class has risen to prominence as the prospects for middle and working class Americans have declined. Even amidst a recovery, most Americans remain pessimistic about their future prospects, and, even more seriously, doubt a bright future (PDF) for the next generation. Most show little confidence in the federal government, although many look for succor from that very source. (more…)
After Nevada and South Carolina
Defeat can be a much better teacher than victory. Hillary Clinton entered the 2008 nomination as the odds-on favorite, but in a stunning upset, lost to a young senator from Illinois. Her loss was emotionally searing but politically educational. Specifically, she learned three lessons that she has been applying during the 2016 contest.
First, organize the caucus states. Assuming that primaries were the main event of 2008, the Clinton campaign failed to put enough money and labor into the caucuses (though she did win Nevada). In the end she actually edged out Obama among delegates from states with contested primaries, but Obama became the inevitable nominee by building an insurmountable lead in the caucus states. This time, she is not taking the caucuses for granted, and her superior organization enabled her to prevent a surging Sanders from winning Nevada. (more…)
California High Speed Rail 2016 Business Plan — A Huge Fraud
The California High Speed Rail Authority just released the draft 2016 Business plan for the project.
The new plan is a complete revision and now proposes to build the Initial Operating Segment (IOS) from San Jose to about 8 miles north of Bakersfield. The previous business plans had proposed to build the IOS from Merced extending south to Burbank and on to Los Angeles Union Station. (more…)
It’s Time To Reinvest In Public Higher Education
The news from UC Berkeley is ominous—one of the world’s great research universities is facing a $150 million deficit and Chancellor Nicholas Dirks has announced a process to “reimagine” the campus in light of the “new normal”. That re-imagining will inevitably mean cutbacks in staffing levels and curriculum and undercut UC Berkeley’s ability to deliver first-class academic performance, groundbreaking research and positive social change. As UC Berkeley graduates, we find this troubling.
What is happening at UC Berkeley is symptomatic of what all of the University of California, the California State University system and our community colleges face. Deep cuts in State support for public higher education have only been partially restored in the last few years. Tuition and fees have been forced upward and all three segments of our public higher education system have been constrained in their ability to accommodate the needs of tens of thousands of qualified California students. (more…)
Foreign Municipal Officials Are Coming to California—And You Can Meet Them This Week
Perhaps because I persist in the delusion that Californians might want to learn some lessons about governance from overseas (given our globally nutty governance system), I find myself hosting foreigners in California again.
The wrinkle this time is that they are locals – municipal officials from European cities – Vienna, Austria; Falun, Sweden, and San Sebastian, Spain. And you can meet them at public events – this Tuesday night, Feb. 23, at the Mitchell Park Library in Palo Alto. And all day Thursday, Feb. 25, at the “Reimagining Local Government” conference at Chapman University in Orange County (the foreigners are on from 515p to 645p—a good excuse to tape, or skip, the latest presidential debate0. Both events are free. (more…)