Does Blink-182 Know Something California’s Governor Jerry Brown Doesn’t?
While Politicians Keep Trumpeting the State’s Success, This Summer’s Songs and Films Sound Skeptical
How is California doing these days? The answer may depend on whom you believe: Governor Brown or Blink-182.
This summer has exposed a divide in perception of California, between the political triumphalism of our elected officials and the decidedly more anxious state of affairs depicted in the broader culture.
Our state’s political and media elites are selling the idea of a “California comeback.” They say—in speeches, op-eds, and books—that the Golden State, not so long ago dismissed as dysfunctional, is the closest thing America has to a working man’s paradise. …
