Dan Walters is a California political columnist for CalMatters.

I’ve argued on many occasions that politics is not a leading-edge occupation. It doesn’t lead. It follows. It reacts rather than acts. I think we in the media depict politicians as the people at the head of the parade—the drum majors strutting along and leading the parade. Really, they’re the people at the end of the parade with the scoop shovels, when you think about it.

Notes and references from this episode:

@DanCALmatters - Dan Walters on Twitter

Dan Walters column archive - CalMatters

Episode 1: Gov. Jerry Brown - What is California?

The New California: Facing the 21st Century, by Dan Walters

"Gavin Newsom’s keeping it all in the family," by Dan Walters, CalMatters

Episode 32: Allison Arieff - What is California?

“Is California strangling its golden goose?”, by Dan Walters, CalMatters

“New tests underscore California’s educational crisis,” by Dan Walters, CalMatters

Hugh J. Glenn - Wikipedia

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