Political Reforms: The Progressive Movement

The progressive movement encompassed a variety of different ideas and activities of reformist pressure groups, that called for political reforms attacking bribery and corruption. Progressive reformers were sought to eliminate social reform issues which during that time was poor working conditions, female suffrage, and child labor. It is because of the progressive era that the state government reforms have helped the public have more direct control over government. In order for the public to have more direct democracy they addressed the social problem and inequality through secret ballots, initiative and referendum power, recall, and direct primary. In California, people have maintained the power to use the initiative and referendum process

Kolhatkar (2015) lists all the social issues California has covered through their recent passed laws. On the issue of abortion, California became the first state to regulate anti- abortion pregnancy centers, requiring them to disclose critical information to potential patients. Since the anti- abortion group give false information and lead pregnant women to believe they’re getting advice from medical professionals, it can be dangerous. On the matter of gender inequality payment, California also passed California Fair Pay Act, which can let women sue their bosses if they learn the fact that their male coworkers earn more than they do for the similar work value. This act is protected from retaliation for inquiring about comparable worker wages and goes much further than the federal. Then for the issues of illegal immigrants, the state legislature let undocumented children be eligible for subsidized Medi- Cal health insurance. Which was built on from allowing the undocumented immigrants to obtain driver licenses also. Then with the matter of voting rights, the motor voter law was passed which let people automatically registered to vote in their local DMV offices when they go register cars or take their driving test. This has helped the voting roll to expand for more democratic participations. It is because of the people’s

In order to correct California’s unsustainable course and make a better democracy, the state will need to require informed citizens and leaders willing to tackle the state’s budget realities. From Ravi et al.’s (2014) article, they made a point that Californians are less likely to engage with their state and local governments. This is because as the state’s system conceal actions by departments and public officials, it worsens the already poor record with public transparency and breeds an atmosphere that is susceptible to corruption. Ravi et al. (2014) have pointed out that California’s voter turnout is slowly declining, and is armed with very little information. Voting is perhaps the biggest political participation and the key indicator for democratic health of a political institution. However, because of political corruption there is a negative relation to democratic electoral participations, so as the corruption increases the percentages of people who go to the polls decrease (Stockemer, 2009). As the public corruption rises it diminishes the public’s trust and may cultivate generations that will hold low levels of trust for government officials. Therefore, there should be an act for governmental transparency to the public, as transparency is the fundament to democracy, because it would be able to reveal corruptions.