Last year I wrote about GFC’s most expensive failure, which is our continuing lack of success in reforming the public-employee retirement system, and earlier this week CalMatters columnist Dan Walters wrote about what I consider to be collectively our most shameful failure, which was the prolonged shutdown of California’s public schools during the pandemic. Both are the result of unorganized broad populations wielding weak political power when facing organized narrow populations wielding strong political power. The antidote is to assemble sufficient political power. That’s why we have turned so much attention to encouraging an ecosystem of political philanthropies supporting the interests of broad populations.
As we’ve noted before, ground zero for such an ecosystem is San Francisco, where a quartet of political philanthropies — Together SF Action, Neighbors For A Better San Francisco, GrowSF and Abundant SF — has been contesting critical races and ballot measures. Each has their own mission and they don’t always agree but all are philanthropies fighting for the interests of broad populations and their results to date have been impressive. GFC has been supportive of their efforts with donations and encouragement of others to donate because their success will both improve governance in San Francisco and turbocharge the development of similar ecosystems alongside us in Sacramento and in Los Angeles and elsewhere. If you haven’t already done so, please consider supporting any or all of them. Their continuing success is the success of everyone working to restore good governance.
