Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Christian Science Monitor

    California recall: Is populist tool undermining democracy?

    Sep 13, 2021 5 minutes
    Laura, who did not want her full name used, holds a sign at a rally for a Republican candidate for governor, talk show host Larry Elder, in Bakersfield, California, Sept. 9. She likes that Mr. Elder wants to roll back state mandates on masks and vaccines. The lifelong Californian says she and her husband are exploring other states – and governors – in their plan to relocate.

    Hiram Johnson would be “horrified” by Tuesday’s special election to recall California’s governor, Gavin Newsom. 

    So says historian Kathryn Olmsted, speaking about California’s great reformer governor of more than a century ago who ushered in the recall as a tool to fight corruption in government. 

    For years, the Southern Pacific Railroad – the richest, most powerful corporation in the state – had a stranglehold on corrupt politicians in the state, including through bribes. In 1911, Governor Johnson and newly elected legislators – all progressive for their time - hit back with a triple punch of direct democracy: the vaunted ballot initiative, the referendum, and the recall, giving the people the power to make laws, overturn laws, and remove elected officials. It was the same year that women in California won the right to vote, nearly a decade ahead of

    Year of the recallPolitical cudgel?

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Christian Science Monitor

    The Christian Science Monitor4 min readWorld
    In Ukraine’s South, Marines Are Waging A Grueling Battle That Could Decide The Region
    Ivan, a Ukrainian soldier convalescing in the port city of Odesa, has carried out four combat deployments since volunteering to serve his country in March 2022. By far the worst, he says, was his experience in Kherson. “It’s a horror,” murmurs Ivan,
    The Christian Science Monitor3 min read
    A Prize For Repairing Riven Societies
    In March, roughly six months into the war in Gaza, the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry published a paper exploring “the possibility of reconciliation – that is, of refiguring relationships to open up a space for dialogue to create pathways to heal the
    The Christian Science Monitor4 min readCrime & Violence
    Jail Time For Leaving Gun In An Unlocked Car? Cities Nudge States On Firearm Laws.
    Late one recent Saturday night, one of Savannah’s famously moss-draped squares exploded in gunfire. Eleven people were wounded; none died. Four people have now been arrested in the hunt for the Ellis Square shooters. But a larger question looms for c

    Related Books & Audiobooks