California is the Future—of American Politics
At the inaugural TEDxOakland event in October, Reinvent Founder Peter Leyden explained how California sets the precedent for what happens in the rest of the nation—only 15 years early. From anti-immigrant backlash to corporate tax cuts, California has experienced many of the challenges and missteps that now face the United States as a whole, and came out on the other side as the progressive economic powerhouse it is today (though of course, not without its own problems, including income inequality and an affordable housing crisis).
Peter also makes this case more comprehensively in his “California Is the Future” Medium series, co-written with Ruy Teixeira. “California is the future,” argue Peter and Ruy in the first piece of the series. “That’s the best way to understand the way forward for America, and ultimately the world. California is roughly 15 years ahead of the rest of America in confronting the very different realities of the 21st century. A world of transformative new technologies with capabilities that we are only just beginning to fully comprehend and harness. A polyglot world of diverse mixes of races and ethnicities that are both super-creative and periodically combustible. A world that increasingly is shaped by climate change and the immense challenges it poses for all of us.”
The second installment, “California’s Already Seen This Movie. It Doesn’t End Well For Trump” argues that America’s paralyzed politics today mirrors California of 15 years ago. Their third installment, “The New California Democrat and America’s New Way Forward,” highlights a number of New California Democrats, including California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Kamala Harris, who exemplify a practical and progressive way forward.
