THE STANDARD READER
The Standard Reader Books in Brief "Well, I love your paint-spattered jeans.' Few books about the 1970s tax revolt have been sympathetic to the reformers. But The Legend of Proposition 13 is—and...
...Fox is absolutely correct when he says that one of the most important achievements of Proposition 13 is its durability...
...The legend continues...
...Schneider isn't confident about the future of the conservatism that for half a century gained adherents and intellectual vitality from its opposition to communism: "Reagan's political and diplomatic successes," he writes, "would represent, ironically, the demise of the conservative movement as it had developed since World War II...
...With California facing a $38 billion deficit and Democrats controlling the executive and both houses of the state legislature (though facing gubernatorial recall), the only thing preventing a painful tax hike is Proposition 13's two-thirds supermajority requirement for a tax increase...
...Throughout his book, Fox provides thoughtful responses to arguments that Proposition 13 reduced education funding and caused inequitable tax burdens...
...Schneider's selections include Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, and founding documents for National Review, Human Events, and the Mont Pelerin Society...
...But in the years after Proposition 13, sixteen other states passed spending limits—and the raising of California's limit in the early 1990s has contributed greatly to the state's current woes...
...Author Joel Fox, who led the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, was involved with both the campaign for Proposition 13 and the subsequent efforts to defend it from judicial and political attacks...
...Seward Collins's American Review and the Southern Agrarians made dubious contributions to conservatism...
...But as a guide to where we've been, Conservatism in America Since 1930 is a useful primer...
...Bottum...
...During the late 1970s, most other states lacked the combination of soaring property taxes, a recalcitrant legislature, and a large surplus that made Proposition 13 a reality in California...
...About the only thing he doesn't get around to is explaining the spark the proposition provided to tax reform across the country...
...But The Legend of Proposition 13 is—and the attraction of the book goes far beyond its ideological sympathy...
...Simpson's acquittal...
...Indeed, twenty-five years after it became law, Proposition 13 may deliver another victory to California taxpayers...
...Schneider includes, for example, the pre-1945 band of "conservatives" who resisted modernity's drive toward industrialism...
...Bryan Auchterlonie Kafka's classic WL-B.H short story awoke one morning from disturbing dreams to find that it had been transformed into a comic book...
...These showcase such topics as traditionalists' disagreements with libertarians on social order, libertarians' opposition to Goldwater conservatism, and the neoconservatives' emergence...
...Michael J. New Given all the recent debates about America's international activity, Greg Schneider's reader couldn't have come at a better time...
...He even counters the outlandish claim that Proposition 13 was responsible for O.J...
...There's reason to shudder while contemplating some of these old debates...
...Schneider has selected essays that recount all the old intramural debates among conservatives—and will help conservatives now think about how to approach the world...
...Squash it...
...Squash it now...
...Indeed, that durability continues to pay dividends...
Vol. 8 • August 2003 • No. 47
