Dreaming of life without the GOP? Welcome to California - where things are far from perfect

The Los Angeles Times ^ | March 3, 2017 | by Conor Friedersdorf

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Partisans cherish a persistent illusion: Everything would be fantastic if it wasn't for those dopes in the other party. Yet, as one side gains power, its ability to pass the buck invariably wanes.

California voters have elected a Democratic governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, controller and insurance commissioner. The state Senate has more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans. So does the state Assembly. Democratic mayors preside in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Long Beach and Los Angeles.

We're a case study in what a political community looks like when Republicans wield little or no power - and an ongoing refutation of the conceit that but for the GOP, the United States would be free of dysfunction.

To govern badly is always a failure of the public's trust. To do so now, as a public servant in California - to ignore dysfunction in deference to a special interest group or kick problems down the road to avoid the difficulty of solving them - isn't just a betrayal of the public, it is high-octane fuel for the ascendant Trump coalition.

Positive leadership by example will always be more compelling than mere opposition.

[fuzzylogic]

It may not be obvious yet but Cali and Detroit are going in two different directions.

Detroit is seeing its rebirth. Lots still to do but it’s happening.

[vooch]

please Calexit 2018

[beaversmom]

For later...

[Tammy8]

Yes my brother said California has taxed and regulated him to the point he is just done with them. He had a battle over clearing brush on his property several years ago. People always wonder why property owners don’t clear the brush when fires get out of control but even brush clearing on your own property is highly regulated. He has built a successful business there but said it would not be possible now. Very sad.

[sergeantdave]

California hasn’t crossed the Rubicon yet. When it does, we have a solution called the 1867-68 Reconstruction Act.

Reconstruction was, with all its flaws, effectively used to bring the South back into Union. I’m not about to debate the various warts and outright scandals surrounding Reconstruction because there were many.

Bailing out California financially is not on the table with the Reconstructions Act. It involves Californians themselves cleaning out the mess they made. The consequences Californians suffer will be of their own making, financially and psychologically.

[nathanbedford]

Democrats know how to improve American communities.

Whether Democrats actually know how to improve American communities or not is arguable but the record is irrefutable, Democrats will not improve American communities because they are prisoners of their own ideology. Their ideology defines "improvement" as the advancement of identity politics and forced "equality." It is a utopian vision which inevitably carries with it an authoritarian edge, a drive to homogenize the community according to their exclusive vision.

This utopian vision despises the individual, offering a secular salvation conditioned on submission by the individual to the "community." In such a world individual liberty is not a sacred birthright but an actual existential threat to the utopian vision. Individualism, that is the actual exercise of liberty, must be discouraged and even oppressed when necessary.

Enter human nature. The inherent human drive for individual advancement cannot be extinguished even by the most authoritarian leftist utopian vision. It can be distorted, however. Hence utopian communities are marked by a scramble for power and the perquisites which come with it. Sometimes it is identifiable as crony capitalism and sometimes it is identifiable as a nomenklature or ruling class as we saw in the Soviet Union. We can call them mandarins or "Lions" of the Senate but, whatever the name, the effect on governance is always a dead hand.

Ultimately the ideology of the Democratic Party means they simply cannot govern well. They are compelled to govern not to enhance the commonweal but to perpetuate the flawed utopian vision. That is why we see California bankrupted with fabulous pensions for lower-level functionaries, exploiting the school system to indoctrinate, flooding the state and its welfare rolls, schools and hospitals with illiterate immigrants who have the ideological virtue of being nonwhite, indulging mindless schemes for prodigal rail systems etc., etc.

Of course all of this is done in the name of improving the community but the real driving motivation is the utopian vision with all of its inherent flaws that force the distortions which caused the Soviet Union to disintegrate, brought tens of millions to starvation in China and North Korea, caused Venezuela to run out of (gasp!) beer and toilet paper, and is now bankrupting California.

The remedy for these excesses inevitably caused by the ideology is the application of more of the same ideology. So the remedy for failed socialism is invariably more socialism. The label will be changed, progressivism becomes liberalism becomes progressivism again, but the ideology stays in the saddle.

[Nero Germanicus]

It will be a while before a California economic disaster. The Trump economy is helping all 50 states and California recently passed both France and Brazil to become the world’s 6th largest economy as measured by Gross Domestic Product. Due to California’s voters approving a “Rainy Day Fund” the state now has $8 billion dollars socked away in budget surplus to use in the next economic down turn.

[KingofZion]

100% correct. I’m outta here as soon as I retire. Tax rates are outrageous and public services are atrocious. Nevada is looking very attractive...

[stevem]

This seems like a silly editorial used to talk about a bunch of problems without offering a solution to a single one while slipping is some denigration of the opposition.

They can be the change they want to see in government — and demonstrate to the country that Democrats know how to improve American communities.

This I would like to see. The entertainment factor followed by a parade of bankruptcies would be entertaining.

[RipSawyer]

With all his magnificent muscle Arnold was able to suck harder than any dim.

[thirst4truth]

My high school friend lives in Riverside and has refused to move. We have showed him land in Oregon waiting for his retirement to change his mind. He retired 4 years ago and is staying put. He has a SEIU janitorial pension don't you know.

Wonder if he will change his mind now since his house was just 2 doors down from the house that was destroyed by the plane that crashed last week in Riverside!!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Plane crashes can change retirement planning ... we left Irvine for the Midwest in 2015 and have NO regrets.

[gubamyster]

With all his magnificent muscle Arnold was able to suck harder than any dim.

The only one who was satisfied with his governorship was the maid.