We believe every Californian should have the opportunity to flourish.

The Abundance Choice – Part 11: The Desalination Option

The Abundance Choice – Part 11: The Desalination Option

Editor’s note: This is the eleventh article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” On May 12, the California Coastal Commission Board of Directors voted 11-0 to deny the application from Poseidon Water to build a desalination plant...

By Edward Ring

The Abundance Choice – Part 10: Time to Stop Wasting Wastewater

The Abundance Choice – Part 10: Time to Stop Wasting Wastewater

Editor’s note: This is the tenth article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” If there is any source of water that ought to be optimized, it is the wastewater produced by...

By Edward Ring

Supreme Court Decision Advances Educational Freedom

Supreme Court Decision Advances Educational Freedom

SCOTUS declares that if a state subsidizes private education, it cannot disqualify religious schools. The latter case revolves around Maine’s town tuitioning law, which allows parents living in districts that do not own and operate elementary or secondary schools to send their children to public or private schools in other areas of the state, or even...

By Larry Sand

The Abundance Choice – Part 9: Can Reservoirs be Part of the Solution?

The Abundance Choice – Part 9: Can Reservoirs be Part of the Solution?

Editor’s note: This is the ninth article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” In May 1957, Harvey Banks, then director of the California Department of Water Resources, submitted “The California Water...

By Edward Ring

The Abundance Choice – Part 8: The Union Factor

The Abundance Choice – Part 8: The Union Factor

Editor’s note: This is the eighth article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” The moment we met Robbie Hunter, then president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council, we knew we...

By Edward Ring

The Abundance Choice – Part 7: An Environmentalist Juggernaut

The Abundance Choice – Part 7: An Environmentalist Juggernaut

Editor’s note: This is the seventh article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” Environmentalists in California, who constitute much of the vanguard of environmentalism in the world, have normalized extremism. The...

By Edward Ring

The Abundance Choice – Part 6: Biased, Hostile Media

The Abundance Choice – Part 6: Biased, Hostile Media

Editor’s note: This is the sixth article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” You can say this for Michael Hiltzik, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times columnist for the Los Angeles...

By Edward Ring

The Enduring Teacher Shortage Myth

The Enduring Teacher Shortage Myth

“Many teachers have left the profession and gone into other work of various kinds because they could make more money. Frequently the best teachers are the ones who have left the profession because they have been able to command exceptional salaries elsewhere.” (H/T Tom Gantert.) The above quote is taken from the front page of the...

By Larry Sand

Inflation-adjusted per capita state spending doubles in one decade – for what?

Inflation-adjusted per capita state spending doubles in one decade – for what?

The California State Legislature has just released the “Floor Report of the 2022-2023 Budget,” and it’s a doozy. Representing an agreement between the budget committees of the Assembly and the Senate, and building on Governor Newsom’s proposal, this $300 billion monstrosity has moved one step closer to becoming final. To fully appreciate how out of...

By Edward Ring

The Abundance Choice – Part 5: The Fractured Farmers

The Abundance Choice – Part 5: The Fractured Farmers

Editor’s note: This is the fifth article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” “We cannot support your initiative if you include the Delta Tunnel as an eligible project. And to be...

By Edward Ring

The Abundance Choice: The Complete Series

The Abundance Choice: The Complete Series

Note: This webpage is dedicated to the complete The Abundance Choice series by Edward Ring. In this series, Edward Ring, a contributing editor and senior fellow with the California Policy Center, examines California’s ongoing water crisis and the many years of failed water policies that got us here. Ring outlines the challenges facing California’s leaders...

By Editorial Staff

The Abundance Choice – Part 4: Crafting a Water Initiative

The Abundance Choice – Part 4: Crafting a Water Initiative

Editor’s note: This is the fourth article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” To be fair, Assemblyman Devon Mathis didn’t come up with the idea of allocating a percentage of the...

By Edward Ring

The Abundance Choice – Part 3: The Mechanics of Ballot Initiatives

The Abundance Choice – Part 3: The Mechanics of Ballot Initiatives

Editor’s note: This is the third article in a series on California’s water crisis. You can read the entire series including recent updates in his new book “The Abundance Choice, Our Fight for More Water in California.” By the spring of 2021, it was obvious the California State Legislature would not change its inadequate approach...

By Edward Ring

Those Who Can’t Teach Math: California Teachers Association’s Massive Drop in Membership

Those Who Can’t Teach Math: California Teachers Association’s Massive Drop in Membership

Internal California Teachers Association documents reveal the union has far fewer members than it claims – and that union leaders expect that number to drop farther. Investigative journalist Mike Antonucci reports that union’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget has the number at 267,270 – a loss of 42,730 members or nearly 14 percent. The California Teachers...

By California Policy Center