Turning the corner?

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: TILTING AT WINDMILLS - California's Proposition 13 of 1978 and Proposition 30 of 2012 - Brief article

In the decline into selfishness and greed that has been the story of America from at least the early 1980s until very recently-and I may be optimistic in using those last three words--the moment that most clearly signaled the beginning of that era was when California voters passed Proposition 13 in 1979. This was the measure that enabled owners to hold down their property taxes, which provided local funding for public schools. It had great appeal to those who were childless, whose children had left school, or who were affluent enough to afford private school--and who were selfish enough not to care about what happened to other...