Sounds like a lively
panel discussion last night in Los Angeles put on by the Huntington-USC
Institute on California and the West. The ostensible question dealt with who has the upper hand in controlling California, the north or the south. And the consensus seemed to be neither, with several panelists saying the bigger political-cultural divide these days is between the coast and the state’s interior. The Zocalo Public Square’s blog recaps, including this political observation from UC Berkeley historical geographer and panel member Gray Brechin:
“L.A. has such a gravitational pull to it,” he said. Alongside San Francisco, Los Angeles is “like Jupiter compared to the Earth.” But San Francisco has a political infrastructure that Los Angeles lacks. “The old Phil Burton political machine … keeps going on like the Energizer Bunny,” Brechin said, pointing to Dianne Feinstein and Jerry Brown. “It just doesn’t stop.”
California,
Politics
Institute on California and the West. The ostensible question dealt with who has the upper hand in controlling California, the north or the south. And the consensus seemed to be neither, with several panelists saying the bigger political-cultural divide these days is between the coast and the state’s interior. The Zocalo Public Square’s blog recaps, including this political observation from UC Berkeley historical geographer and panel member Gray Brechin:
