Hiram Warren Johnson, California’s governor between 1911 and 1917, championed for the State’s initiative, referendum and recall laws. Johnson served as the leader of the nation’s Progressive movement until August 6, 1945, the same day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
In the past 20 years, Johnson’s legacy extended to the rise and fall of California’s 25th Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, the State’s love/hate relationship with the death penalty, the decision to make English the official language of California, and the recall of Governor Joseph Graham “Gray” Davis, Jr. in 2003. Most recently, Johnson and the Progressive movement established the framework for Proposition 8.
Whether or not you liked Governor Davis, in many ways the decision to recall him from office revealed an unfortunate flaw in California’s political system. At its core and without getting into the substantive issues, Proposition 8 showed the nation just how antiquated and dangerous California’s proposition system can be. In an earlier posting on this Website, I questioned whether California had outgrown its operating instructions. Now, I wonder if California can sustain itself and still hold tight to the 100-year old system that still houses its progressive ideals.
The principles of progressivism — the desire to remove corruption and undue influence from government, the desire to include more people in politics, and the idea that government plays a critical role in solving social inequities — are just as important today as they were during Hiram Johnson’s leadership. The rising population of California, however (3,426,861 in 1920 and an estimated 38,000,000 in 2010), may render these noble causes obsolete.
At Compete to Conserve, we’ve been working hard since last year’s launch continually to improve our website while staying the course, eco-wise. Well into the first month of the new year, we have been challenging our community to think hard about doing more, getting involved, and being more green. We want our members to understand that everyone can make small changes every day that add up to create real impact, and we like to remind everyone that you don’t have to be an environmentalist to save energy and natural resources.
In today’s political climate, it is important to know that individual actions really do make a difference, especially when some of the traditional notions of progressivism seem to falter as our population grows. That’s why we like to remind ourselves that people, not politics, will inherit the earth. These same people — our community — can work together toward the goal of a sustainable 2009.
