"Let us remember the greater good of California. I remain a great believer in the future of this state. I did not seek this job to cut...but to build. I did not seek this job to preside over the decline of a dream...but to renew it.”-Governor Schwarzenegger
| IN THE END, THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA WANT GOVERNMENT TO BUILD ROADS, PROVIDE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AND APPREHEND AND IMPRISON CRIMINALS. THEY WANT A GOVERNMENT THAT PROVIDES FOR SOCIETY’S MOST VULNERABLE MEMBERS—CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY, THE DISABLED AND THE IMPOVERISHED. BY THE SAME TOKEN, THEY DO NOT WANT A GOVERNMENT THAT IS WASTEFUL, INEFFICIENT OR A DRAG ON THE STATE ECONOMY |
In the end, the people of California want government to build roads, provide public schools, and apprehend and imprison criminals. They want a government that provides for society’s most vulnerable members—children, the elderly, the disabled and the impoverished. By the same token, they do not want a government that is wasteful, inefficient or a drag on the state economy.
We believe this report provides a prescription for meaningful reform and a framework that will enable us to create a government that is a model for others to follow in the new century. It won’t be easy. The future won’t be won in a day. But it is worth the effort.
The California Performance Review’s Prescription for Change is the strong medicine needed to restore California’s health, vitality, and prosperity. It is the bold intervention required because so many fundamental aspects of what makes California great and dynamic have been allowed to deteriorate and fail.
But even more, CPR’s Prescription for Change is an action plan for the future. Californians are not timid or hesitant when their fundamental hopes and dreams are at stake. They took decisive action in the 20th century when Hiram Johnson was Governor and mobilized their energy, seizing the machinery of government to make it more responsive, fairer and accountable. The Prescription for Change discussed in this report and the other reports of the California Performance Review is our answer to the people of California’s demand for reform and change.
| FOR OVER A CENTURY AND A HALF, THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA HAVE EMBRACED THEIR DYNAMISM AND THE GREAT ROLE THEY PLAY IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION, AND INDEED, THE WORLD. CALIFORNIA DREAMS THE NATION’S DREAMS, BUILDS DREAMS THAT BECOME AMAZING REALITIES. |
The Prescription for Change, like the California Performance Review, is a promise of renewal and hope. It is dramatic and farsighted like the new Governor who called for it. Far-reaching structural changes must be made to California government. The way government serves the people must be overhauled. But, none of this will happen without the insistence and dedication of the people of California to reform.
For over a century and a half, the people of California have embraced the dynamic role they play in the life of this nation, and indeed, the world. California’s dreams are the nation’s dreams; they are dreams that become amazing realities. The Prescription for Change is precisely that kind of dream because it expresses the best and promises the best to the people of this state.
When the Prescription for Change is put in place, the people will have the first 21st century government in America.
This is a dream worth pursuing.