Peter Schrag, a longtime opinion editor of The Sacramento Bee who wrote a well-received book about the conundrum of California governance — a state blessed with extraordinary wealth and opportunity and, in his view, cursed with too much populist democracy — died on March 19 in Davis, California. He was 94.
His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his son David.
Mr. Schrag’s 1998 book, “Paradise Lost: California’s Experience, America’s Future,” argued that the state’s infatuation with voter initiatives — only Oregon has used the process as often — hamstrung the State Legislature and eroded representative government.
