California Gov. Gavin Newsome is straight out of central casting for a perfect liberal: JFK looks but without JFK’s pesky conservative beliefs.
All perfect leftists have an accidental view of history, and Newsom has a Ph.D. in accidents. To be a perfect leftist you have to subscribe to the theory that things just… happen. The basic philosophy and matching campaign rhetoric is: All the bad things you see — from homelessness and crime to inflation and war — are accidental. They could have happened to anybody regardless of policies, so give Democrats more of your money, and don’t ask about outcomes.
To satisfy the more critically thinking liberal voter, they pivot to: If there are reasons why bad things happen, it’s the fault of fill-in-the-blank conservative, and now we have to fix it with left-wing policies (read: spending money). The intent of a policy matters more than its outcome.
I was raised in Southern California, spent over half my life there, and let me tell you, in the ’70s and ’80s, it was the best place on the planet to live. California was magical. Growing up there was amazing, and most adults who lived there in that era concur, regardless of political affiliation. It’s almost impossible to convince a SoCal kid who experienced everything that great state had to offer that there was a better place to be raised in America.
Out-of-state cousins wanted to come visit every holiday, and their parents loaded up cars and vacationed where we spent our lives daily. We rode our bikes well after dark without a care in the world, walked in Hollywood without fear, strolled the beaches in the wee hours of the morning, regularly rode up to bowling alleys, stores, and restaurants — and then just left our bikes without locking them up. Kids of the ’70s and ’80s were (little “g”) gods, and California was our kingdom.
There was one exception to our Golden State utopia, and it came in the summer of 1984 when the Night Stalker paralyzed SoCal residents. It lasted a little more than a year, and when he was caught, we celebrated, not just because the killing spree was over but because we all could resume our lives without fear. The Night Stalker was named that because he struck only at night — but now, in broad daylight, California residents know they can be a victim at any time and in any neighborhood.
People outside California look at it now and wonder: How did it all go so wrong? How could the greatest place on the planet turn into the steaming pile of dung it is today? The “what” isn’t complicated. The state went from red to blue in the early ’90s. And while there is debate as to the reasons it flipped, when it did, the state declined rapidly with no end in sight.
It’s easy to blame politicians, but we can’t leave out the voters. Why would voters keep electing people who continuously preside over the state’s decline? It’s because they have bought the premise that outcomes are accidental, or it’s someone else’s fault combined with perceived intent.
For instance: Crime didn’t spike because we changed the law to allow shoplifting under $950; it spiked in spite of that law, or because of Covid, or due to not enough early-education funding. That law passed because leftists convinced voters that the intent of the law mattered more than the foreseeable outcome. Or another example: Getting rid of anti-camping laws didn’t increase homelessness, the price of homes did. Because anti-camping laws are evil, according to liberals. Getting rid of those laws shows Democrats are good people — again, selling intent, not outcomes.
What a maddening existence conservatives have in California. Inside, they are screaming at voters, but they know it won’t change anything. Some leave, of course, but some can’t. Others won’t leave behind family and friends. California voters routinely say they didn’t vote for this or that. Sure, just like no one bought Nickelback albums. Someone is voting for this garbage, and it isn’t the minority party.
In the red-versus-blue governors’ debate between Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, there was an unmistakable rhythm to the answers. DeSantis talked about what he had done and achieved, and Newsom talked about what he had planned or how much money was thrown at a problem.
That’s not a novel approach for Democrats; it’s exactly how they frame national problems too. When Biden took office and made changes to Trump’s border policy — voila! Border chaos ensued. So the White House went looking for “root causes,” knowing they threw open the door and what would result, all the while selling their voters that it wasn’t happening. Then they acknowledged it was happening, but it was the other guy’s fault — and in fact, it was his policies that delayed the chaos just long enough so it would be unleashed on the Biden administration.
My favorite one is when Democrats tell us gas is expensive because Big Oil is greedy. Newsom tried to sell that one during the debate, even going so far as to specifically accuse Big Oil of hating Californians. So Big Oil is greedy just in California? Or they weren’t greedy during the Trump administration, just during the Biden one? To conservatives, it’s a laughable excuse, but voters in the majority party in California must believe it because their voting record bears that out.
Newsom wasn’t the first leftist to destroy the greatest state in the union, but he has been the most successful. Democrats have always gotten away with it because they have successfully indoctrinated their voters into believing their policies don’t lead to bad outcomes. You have to work hard over decades to turn a state that people flocked to into a place they now flee, but Democrats did it. Sadly, the voters there can’t quite make the connection as to why that happened.
Newsom famously admitted they cleaned up San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, and the right-leaning media (rightfully) pounced. Why did he admit to that with a smug smile on his face? Because he knew California voters won’t punish him or his party. Why should he be concerned? Since the early ’90s, he and his party have wreaked havoc, and not only do they keep winning elections, but they are stamping out the last of the conservative counties in the process.
Newsom chided DeSantis, saying the Florida Republican was disparaging the great city of Los Angeles for having the temerity to mention the outcomes that Angelenos were experiencing under Newsom’s party. Newsom got on his soap box and raised his voice to protest DeSantis’ characterization of the conditions on the ground, knowing that he and his party lit the fuse that led to the combustion of a once-great city.
But the faux indignation isn’t fooling California conservatives. We know Newsom and his party don’t give a second thought to the state’s destruction, nor the residents who are collateral damage, because in California next November, like clockwork, Democrats will again prevail up and down the ballot and all across the state.
