To my wonderful, bright and beautiful daughters, I feel I owe you an apology. It is actually an apology from my generation to yours. Because we have lost the willingness to honestly look at the reality before us, my generation has created a California with very limited opportunities for you.
I want to be optimistic. I want you to have choices. I want you to be able to dream and reach for what could be. But instead my generation has accepted a governance process that takes pride in mediocrity. It is reflected in a state budget that only gets bleaker, a function of years of political deal-making that is anything but a “Profile in Courage.” As a result, opportunities enjoyed by my generation will be nothing more than unfulfilled dreams for your generation. We have created an accelerating downward spiral of limited educational and job opportunities.
There is a lot of talk and multiple proposals to change our political system, ranging from a constitutional convention to instituting a part time Legislature. Ironically, the dozens upon dozens of competing and conflicting ballot measures that propose to “fix” California’s problems are actually a continuation of the dysfunctional politics in the state. What is missing from all of these proposals is one key requirement for success – leadership.
The problems that my generation created aren’t a function of any political party or interest group. It is actually a failure of leadership – leadership on an individual basis from our public officials who sell out the next generation for the support of an important constituency group. A failure to look past the politics of today. As a result, the California that we are creating for you is one that is far different from the one I was blessed to grow up in. When I was growing up, families built their quality of life with jobs that gave kids who never went to college an equal shot at the American dream. Now, there are very high end jobs for the few and many low end jobs for many, but very few jobs in the middle where my generation found prosperity.
I wish I could turn the tide but that seems impossible – at least for now. I fear for your future – and for that I apologize from my generation to yours.
Love,
Dad