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By Eric Johnson
Published Nov 13, 2023

Image credit: LightField Studios, Shutterstock

Fighting & Working for Democracy

I write this as Veterans Day weekend draws to a close, and I want to call your attention to a vets’ organization that is doing important work. The nonprofit We the Veterans and Military Families has set the following goal as its mission: “Strengthening our democracy and ensuring misinformation and polarization don’t continue to tear at the fabric of our union.”

This group of former members of the armed forces, and their spouses and children, have been working in recent years to dispel the false myth that those who serve in the military tend toward extremist views—a myth that grew in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at our nation’s Capitol. They point to a study that shows support for extremist ideologies among veterans is far lower than what is found in representative surveys of the general public.

We the Veterans, which recruits vets to serve as local poll workers, is passionately committed to democracy, and stands ready to defend every American’s right to vote, as its leadership noted in a recent op-ed: “Generations of American servicemen and women, supported by their families at home, have shed their blood on foreign battlefields to defend that fundamental right.”

Learn more about We the Veterans here. I applaud them for their continued service.


A Lot of Politics Is Local

On a visit to Santa Cruz a couple Saturdays ago, I got to participate in a great American democratic tradition—a political fundraiser. This one took place at the home of Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, and was held on behalf of Robert Rivas (D–Hollister), the speaker of the California Assembly.

I realize that most Californians have not had the opportunity to attend such an event, and that may account for the prevalence of the mistaken view that elected officials are by and large corrupt. Over a career of covering local electeds, I have come to believe that most of the people who choose a life of public service are some of our best.

The individuals who took turns speaking on Fred and Barbara’s porch, addressing a smallish crowd of small-money donors in their front yard, proved that point.

Rivas himself is proud to have been raised by farmworkers, and has been working to help his community since first being elected to the local city council when he was in his twenties. As I have noted here previously, he leads what he accurately refers to as “an assembly that is the most diverse in California’s history, and among the most diverse legislative bodies in the world.”

Fred also introduced two recently elected assembly members, Dawn Addis and Gail Pellerin. Addis is a former longtime schoolteacher, who now represents a district that spans a big chunk of the California coast. Pellerin served as Santa Cruz County Clerk for 27 years—as you may know from recent news out of Georgia and elsewhere, the county clerk is the person responsible for guaranteeing that every citizen’s vote is counted.

Speaking of democracy: Election season 2024 is now officially underway, and my colleague Sharan Street here presents some highlights of what is to come.


One Citizen, One Vote

Voters have many decisions to weigh before March 5.
A year from now we’ll be choosing the next U.S. president. But there are many important decisions to be made before then. Now’s the time to start getting ready for the March 5 primary.


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Building Democracy in the Golden State

If you feel in your bones that California is among the most democratic states in the nation, you are correct. I speak here not of the Democratic Party, but of what we wonks call “small ‘d’ democratic” politics—a system that ensures that we are a self-governing state. In this excerpt from our upcoming book, How California Works, Jon Vankin briefly explains how that happy fact came to be.


People Power! What Is Democracy, and How Does It Work in California?

Translated from the Greek, “Democracy” means “people power.” How much power do the people have in California?
Democracy is a 2,500-year-old system of government still looked on today as the best system, because under a democratic system, the people govern themselves. But is that all there is to it? What is democracy? And how does it work in California?


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Recent Statewide News

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(11/13/2023) → Sacramento Bee

• Community College Enrollment Rebounding Post-Pandemic, and Students Over 50 Are a Big Reason Why

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• Tree Climbers Are Helping Replant California’s Forests

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(11/09/2023) → Sacramento Bee

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(11/08/2023) → LAist

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• Capitol Gets its First Monument to California’s Indigenous Population

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