The Handwringing Generation

The Greatest Generation is a phrase often used to describe those amazing men and women that faced the Great Depression and World War II, and overcoming the tremendous obstacles in their lives, gave us a Nation prepared for the future. In California, that descriptive phrase may well apply to that generation of leaders that looked into the future and saw a State bursting with opportunity and optimism for their children and grandchildren.

California’s Greatest Generation, led by the current Governor’s father Edmund G. Brown, dreamed fabulously great things for our State and set about the task of providing the means for millions of Californians to achieve those dreams. They expanded our transportation system making it the envy of others, here and around the world. They committed themselves to developing expanding economic opportunities for future generations by constructing a water delivery system unparalleled in our nation’s history. They believed that their children’s education had to give them the best prospects for success, so they committed themselves and future generations to providing an educational system preparing their children for the 20th Century and beyond.

Now, as our generation faces a critical crossroads, we have the possibility that ours will be the generation that not only squandered the opportunities given us by that Greatest Generation, but we will fail to provide our grandchildren with the same blessings we inherited. Much of what we have today was begun when our state was home to nearly 16 million people. In the 40 years since the great projects of schools, roads, and water works that we enjoy were completed we added another 12 million Californians to our state. We have built it and they came. We appear to have wasted our chance to keep California the Golden State and opted instead for endless handwringing and approaches that deliver limits on the future of our children.

As regards the issue of building on the water infrastructure we inherited, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, of the nearly $12 billion worth of water bonds approved by voters between 1980 and 2002, two-thirds or nearly $8 billion has been dedicated to habitat acquisition and restoration or the acquisition and maintenance of parks. Not one new acre-foot of water was produced through the expenditure of these “water” funds, but gallons of “paper water” now exist.

Instead of investing in structures and facilities that would create jobs, accommodate economic growth, and support our growing population our leaders wring their hands and talk about “toolboxes” of solutions, using the hammer of “conservation” to carry us through the historical dry periods in our state. In fact, just ten years ago an acre-foot of water, about 365,000 gallons, supported a family of four for a year. 

Today, after surviving several significant dry water years, we find that same family uses only about a half of that amount, around 185,000 gallons, with today’s drought causing state leaders to publicly wring their hands and ask Californians to once again “conserve” even more of the now precious commodity. Interestingly, the facility known as the Sites Reservoir was authorized by our Legislature 20 years ago, 1994 to be exact. Yet, while not beginning construction of this “authorized” structure in this time, we are racing ahead with spending for a high-speed train project that on its best day will take longer to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco or Sacramento than jet airplanes that traverse the state dozens of times per day.

Our generation needs to do more than handwringing during a crisis. We must act. We must provide those things that future generations will need to prosper and do so in a way that recognizes our obligations as stewards of our resources. Our generation can no longer ignore our children’s need for jobs and opportunity by wasting billions of hard earned tax dollars on “wants” rather than needs such as trains made obsolete by jet airplanes. 

We can no longer invest in stopgap solutions and we must stop telling ourselves that the only way the future will be brighter is if we limit our lives and make do with less. Our generation must recognize that we have an obligation to future generations to provide a world that allows them to pursue their dreams as we were able to pursue our own.

Doug Haaland is running for State Assembly in Assembly District 8, which includes the communities of Arden-Arcade, Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, Rancho Murieta, Rosemont, Wilton and portions of unincorporated Sacramento County.