Dianne Feinstein Is California’s Future

The Senator's Age and Memory Lapses Are Inviting Calls for Retirement. They Also Reflect How Fast the Golden State Is Aging

Do you think Dianne Feinstein should retire because she is too old, too out of it, and too tied to the past to represent today’s California?

Then you are dead wrong.

Because our very senior senator, more than any other political leader in the state, actually represents California’s future. And while those political insiders campaigning to force her retirement may be correct about her diminished capacities, they fail to recognize just how much she resembles who we Californians are, and what we are becoming.

California’s future, like Feinstein, looks old. Californians are increasingly …

by Joe Mathews | April 26, 2022

Could California’s Population Actually Shrink?

As the Golden State Hits 40 Million This Summer, Trends Point to a Less Populous—and Challenging—Future

by Joe Mathews | July 16, 2018

This should be the summer when the population of California finally surpasses 40 million.

We should celebrate by reflecting on just how small we are.

Of course, we won’t. California, like an …

Why the Census Must Frame the Right Questions on Race and National Origin

Getting Precise Data Affects Billions in Federal Dollars and Shapes Public Policy

By Jennifer Lee | April 25, 2017

Like most Americans, I spent most of my life not appreciating the herculean effort the U.S. Census Bureau undertakes every 10 years.

Since its inception in 1790, the U.S. …

Want to Preserve American Small Towns? Embrace Immigrants.

From New York to Iowa, Foreign-Born Residents and Their Families Are Helping to Reinvigorate Rural Communities

By Diana Gordon | September 2, 2016

Once upon a time the pulse of America beat in its small towns. They were where you took your crops to market, met the trains that brought visits from Aunt …

The Campaign to Save India’s Tigers Ignores the Human Cost of Conservation

Saving South Asia’s Regal Cats Has Plunged Thousands of Women Into Poverty and Ignominy

By Lisa Margonelli | March 30, 2016

Tigers are for most of us a hypothetical necessity.

Hypothetical in the sense that very few of us spend any time around tigers outside of zoos, though we interact with …

Why California Should Position Itself as a Mecca for the Poor

For One, It's a Strategy That Worked for the United States of America

By Joe Mathews | October 8, 2015

Fresno regularly ranks as one of the poorest metro areas in the United States. So why do people keep moving there?

The short, if incomplete, answer: Fresno is in California. And …

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