How San Diego’s Worst Politician Ended Up in the White House

Peter Navarro’s Sudden Influence Shows What Happens When Anger and Accusation Dominate the Nation’s Conversation

In the 20th century, we learned the Peter Principle: if you seek to rise in a hierarchy, you’ll get promoted until you reach your level of incompetence.

In the 21st century, we must learn the Peter Navarro Principle: if you’re maniacally angry and relentless in accusing others, your incompetence will be no obstacle to your rise.

That’s the career arc of Peter Navarro, who now is a leader of the White House’s efforts to reopen the country and produce enough medical equipment to protect America from COVID-19. So for all the frightening …

Santa, Please Save San Diego! | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Santa, Please Save San Diego!

This Christmas, All America’s Finest City Wants Is a Bigger Convention Center

Dear Kris Kringle,

This Christmas, can you save San Diego by bringing the city the one gift its civic elite obsessively wants, but doesn’t get?

I’m talking deep obsession. Yes, Captain …

‘When the Baby Has Colic I Talk With the Grandmother’ | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

‘When the Baby Has Colic I Talk With the Grandmother’

As a Mexico-Trained Doctor in San Diego, Brenda Green Gets the Whole Family Involved

I practice family medicine at a clinic just a few miles away from the Tijuana medical school where I earned my medical degree. But the journey from medical school to …

Why California Should Close Failing School Districts | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Why California Should Close Failing School Districts

Southern San Diego County’s Sweetwater District Cannot Escape Mismanagement and Corruption on Its Own

School has begun again for the 40,000-plus students of Sweetwater Union High School District. But the district’s governance crisis never seems to end.

Sweetwater rarely makes the statewide news, but …

California Needs Frank Capra to Rewrite Its Story

The Legendary Film Director Knew That the Golden State Isn’t About Rich Moguls, but About the Struggles and Triumphs of Ordinary People

The California story needs a remake.

Get me Capra!

Frank—legendary director of films including It Happened One Night to It’s a Wonderful Life—has been dead since 1991, you say? No matter! Just …