#2 / Incrementalism

The San Jose Mercury News ran a nice story this morning on soon-to-be Governor Jerry Brown. Here's the quote I liked the best:

By nature, I don't want to be an incrementalist.

Jerry Brown was elected Governor for the first time in 1974, the same year I was first elected to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. I thank my good luck that my personal beginnings in politics and government coincided with his first two terms as Governor. Those times imbued me with the idea that government was supposed to "do something," and to change the world.

I associate the idea of "incrementalism" with the idea that change "happens to us." By nature, I don't want to be an incrementalist.

I want to be an actor, not an observer.

I'm glad that Jerry Brown is back!