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A Fox, A Hound, and a Friendship

If political differences are destined to leave us divided and friendless, how do you explain the life of Joel Fox?

Fox died on January 10 after more than a decade of living with cancer. He was California’s most prominent taxpayer advocate since Howard Jarvis, for whom he worked, and whose anti-tax organization he led from 1986 to 1998. Fox, a Republican, advanced conservative ideas on TV and op-ed pages. He advised the campaigns of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mayor Richard Riordan, and U.S. Sen. John McCain.

That profile, in our polarized times, might make you think Fox was one of those political ideologues who are driving the country apart. But the opposite is true.

Fox, more than any person in California politics, built deep relationships with people across the political spectrum. And he did not do this through consensus or compromise. Instead, Fox built friendships on disagreement itself—a warm, open, and curious style of disagreement.

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New Class Order

(Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the Orange County Register prior to the election.) In this predictably difficult year for the Democrats, the party

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The Upside of Low Turnout

This election, your vote counted double. “When it’s 50 % turnout, your voting power is doubled #math,” Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc., the state’s top

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Southern California Stuck in Drive

Southern California has long been a nurturer of dreams that, while widely anticipated, often are never quite achieved. One particularly strong fantasy involves Los Angeles

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The Bocanegra Conundrum

The Bocanegra Conundrum is not a book title from the late thriller novelist Robert Ludlum — but there is mystery involved. Patty Lopez, a neophyte

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