Chances are you didn’t celebrate Admission Day last month. You may not even know what Admission Day is. Or was.
On Sept. 9, 1850, California was admitted to the Union, and for more than a century, the day was celebrated as a state holiday. You know, a holiday, with flags and parades and all that stuff.
Then, in 1984, the holiday was abandoned in legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian.
Jerry Brown may seem like the least traditional politician in our lifetime, but it was Brown, the twice Democratic governor, who rose to defend this celebration of the Golden State.
In his first time as governor, in 1976, Brown vetoed a version of the bill that Deukmejian later signed — a bill that replaced Admission Day with a floating holiday for state employees.
In his second time around as governor, in 2018, Brown would lament the loss of Admission Day. In a Sept. 9 proclamation, he wrote that Deukmejian’s action was “convenient to some but in no way respectful of our storied founding. California’s early history is too often neglected in schools and among our citizens.”
Brown, the son of a governor, is a fourth-generation Californian.
When he wrote about California’s future in last week’s Forum section, writer D.J. Waldie sounded less than optimistic (“Will California be golden in 2050?”).
Yes, I know. Our state is a long way from perfect. Housing costs too much. Too many people are being left behind as the gap widens between the wealthy and everyone else. Demographic changes will challenge our capacity to respond. There are too many layers of government and too many agencies eager to regulate economic activity, even when those regulations trample on common sense.
And the state’s early history is replete with stories of the persecution of Native Americans and Latinos — the people who were here first — as well as anyone who was something other than a white male. Our schools haven’t been very good at telling that story — or many other stories that respect the state’s history.
Our pride in place has taken a beating, as of late, and sometimes for good reasons.
Still, this state accomplishes more than other states, especially on matters related to economic growth, health care, environmental protection, reproductive rights and social justice. And California remains a place where people come to start a new life and to pursue their dreams. San Francisco and Silicon Valley have become Meccas for people who want to work in an industry that didn’t exist 40 years ago.
I’m a Californian because my mom and dad decided to join the post-World War II rush to California. I’m grateful. More than any other, it was their generation that made the investments that powered the state’s prosperity.
Each generation’s investments in education, transportation and public works become part of its legacy to future generations.
There is a reason, after all, that California is now the fourth-largest economy on earth, ahead of Japan, India, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, among others. (In gross domestic product, the state trails only Germany, China and the U.S.)
Just now, California has become a scapegoat for politicians eager to tap into the envy of people in states that can only wish they enjoyed the same economic success. These are people who have never been to California but are eager to believe politicians who play to people’s sense of victimhood.
And so San Francisco and Los Angeles became “hellscapes.” (Don’t tell the millions who live and prosper there.)
California, critics like to say, is woke, which is sometimes shorthand for refusing to celebrate people who fought to defend slavery — or for daring to let people make their own choices about how to live.
And so some like to punish California for being California — and not Alabama.
Which makes this the right time to celebrate California — and to learn its history, warts and all. We dare not hide from our history while criticizing other states’ desire to scrub away remnants of their own.
California has work to do. There’s no use pretending that needless red tape and the obscene price of housing are not obstacles in the way of long-term prosperity.
While acknowledging our mistakes, a sense of place will help us stand-up to efforts to denigrate the Golden State, and it will strengthen our resolve to make sure future generations enjoy the same opportunities as earlier generations enjoyed.
Some may complain about California’s liberal politics, but you may notice that most of them are not moving to, say, Missouri or Louisiana. Even as they complain, they enjoy the weather, the good life and the chance to make a ton of money.
Would you rather enjoy a night out for dinner in Wine Country, or risk freezing your butt off in North Dakota? If no one wanted to live here, housing wouldn’t be so damned expensive.
Yes, we have to get busy. But we have the resources — the wealth and the human talent — to retain what made California great in the first place.
When we celebrate California, we celebrate possibilities, not just for the wealthy but for anyone willing to work hard and dream.
Sorry to be late, but … Happy Admission Day, everyone.
Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat. Email him at golispd@gmail.com.