Paradise Plundered and Under the Perfect Sun

Paradise Plundered, Fiscal Crisis and Governance Failures in San Diego by Steven P. Erie, Vladimir Kogan and Scott A. Makenzie.

I've only read a few pages, but I'll write a bit about it when I finish it. My favorite quote so far?

"Therein lies the paradox at the heart of San Diego's storied past and troubled current circumstances: the city and region were built and sustained by big government."

So, I'm a little baffled as to why Grover Norquist and other anti-tax crusaders have such a big fan base in this area. Well, I guess being that Republicans are mostly non self-aware, stupid hypocrites and this area is loaded with them it shouldn't be a surprise to me.

Almost 3 years ago I did a post on San Diego politics that started out by saying

"By the time I was 25 years old I was truly frightened of politics in San Diego

Wth good reason..."

And went on to recommend a book titled Under the Perfect Sun by Mike Davis, Kelly Mahew and Jim Miller. I thought I wrote about this book before, but I can't find the post. If you are not a rich, arrogant Republican and you are considering re-locating to San Diego, do yourself a favor and read it before you make that decision. I was born here and have lived most of my life here and found myself nodding in agreement when I wasn't feeling amazed at how little I knew about the true history of this county.


Ironically, I'm not much of a country music fan, but I love this song.
Just Another Day in Paradise-Phil Vassar