Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: January 19, 2007             No. 2

Governor Calls California “A Nation State”;  Preaches
People Not Politics in His Inauguration Address 

On January 5, 2007, Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the 38^th Governor of the state of California. Governor Schwarzenegger articulated his vision of California to a packed crowd at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento. 

He called California a nation-state for its diversity of people, its economy, and the ability for anyone to reach the so-called dream of success. He asked that Californians do away with identifying themselves in membership to one party because we all belong to “the Party of California.” He called for no more partisan bickering, but the need to move in the direction of working on behalf of the people and not “politics.” The Governor asserted that we are working in the world of “post-partisanship, a world in which Republicans and Democrats actively give birth to new ideas together.”

With the passage of major bonds that provide new infrastructure funding for schools, roads, ports, water, and levees, Governor Schwarzenegger based the foundation of his dream for California as one built upon growth and prosperity because “California itself is a dream.”   

“My dream is that California, the nation-state, the harmonious state, the prosperous state, the cutting-edge state, becomes a model, not just for 21^st century American society, but for the larger world.” He pledged to look to the future in working and looking to the dreams of the people in making California the nation state it should be. 

While I was privileged to attend this event, all of us at SSC hope that the spirit of bipartisanship survives the exuberance of the inaugural season. The Governor’s emphasis on leaving a legacy of infrastructure restoration will need to be balanced with an emphasis on services for and education of the people who will use that infrastructure to move California forward.  We wish the Schwarzenegger Administration the very best in those in endeavors.  

—Jamillah Moore