PREFACE

praisew orthy in current calls for m ore 'centrism ' or 'pragm atism ': eu p h e misms for the continual process of increm ental adjustm ent to the right w ard drift of the Democratic Party. In contrast, conservative Christian groups have built impressive political bases in local suburban politics largely through unyielding, program m atic tenacity. Odd to say, b u t m any conservatives seem to have a better grasp of Gramsci th an m any on the Left. Above all, they understand the principle th at a hegem onic politics m ust represent a consistent continuum of values: it m ust em body a morally coherent w ay of life. Upton Sinclair - the m ost famous Socialist in Southern California in the 1920s and 1930s - understood this instinctively and completely. His EPIC m ovem ent of 1934 brilliantly used the ethic of the New Testam ent to argue the compelling case for production for use and full em ploym ent. He campaigned on the straightforward principle th at the right to earn a living for one's family transcends the right to ow n idle property. His campaign was a crusade th at lit fires in the hearts of millions of ordinary Californians, m ost of w hom had never previously paid any attention to ideas from the Left. But w hat is the equivalent crusade today? W hat m oral imperative should organize and give passion to a progressive politics for Los Angeles and California? The answer, I think, has been provided by the extra ordinary, if underpublicised hearings that Los Angeles state senators Gloria Romero and Richard Alarcon conducted several years ago, w hich focused on the scandal of poverty, particularly child poverty in California. They argued w ith real eloquence that California - one of the richest societies in w orld history - needs to declare w ar on the poverty and youth violence in its inner cities and farm com munities. This is the great issue - not tax relief for corporations and SUV owners, or persecution of undocum ented immigrants - th at should be the m oral center of local and state politics. The gigantic dem onstrations of Latino im m igrants and their allies in the spring of 2006, w hich reclaimed dow ntow n Los Angeles in the nam e of El Pueblo, revealed the social pow er of the city's blue-collar neighborhoods and suburbs. The challenge to labor activists and com m unity organizers is to harness this em ergent pow er to a consistent progressive program, and the centerpiece of that program, in my opinion, should be a social and economic bill of rights for the city's children. At the end of the day, the best m easure of the hum anity of any society is the life and happiness of its children. We live in a rich society w ith poor children, and that should be intolerable. San Diego, April 2006

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