Gavin Newsom: Begging People to Come Back to California or ?
Political craziness is often defined by California politics, but Gavin Newsom is setting a new standard for crazy. People are fleeing California for Texas, Arizona, Florida and and just about anywhere, and it is, to a large extent, his fault…..well maybe him and his leftwing wack-job Democrat cronies. But I digress.
Just so I’m clear though, I love California. Just not what hard-left politics have made of it. I know of what I speak from experience. I lived in California for nearly 70 years. I saw first hand the Golden State turned into the Altered State. It was like a long, lingering infection that started in isolated pockets of decay and slowly spread across the land; like some evil force in a Hobbit story. I watched first in anger, then in sadness and finally left in disgust at what they had done to my home state.
California schools: From Fame to Shame.
California used to be amongst the highest ranking school systems in the country. Today they are amongst the lowest; at 36th in national ranking. Spending about $1,000 per student less than the national average, that’s probably not surprising.
From “world class” highways to pothole-ridden byways.
California highways and transportation infrastructure used to be some of the best in the country; indeed in the world. Now it is among the worst, ranking 44th in urban interstate pavement conditions and 41st in rural. At an average cost of $600,000 per state-controlled mile it is amongst the most expensive in the country.
An exodus of big business!
California used to draw businesses from all over. Today they are fleeing to all over. Some of the worlds largest, most powerful corporations are planting their flags elsewhere. Tesla, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, Charles Schwab, are just a few big names that have left or are leaving for much more business friendly and affordable Texas (no sate income tax and gas is under $4/gallon as I write). Others have gone to places like Florida, Arizona or Colorado in efforts to escape the California Crush. A growing number of companies don’t see California in their future. That does not bode well for a government used to glutinous spending.
Dreams to nightmares
California living used to be the dream of people everywhere. Getting to the Golden State was a lifelong goal. California Dreamin”…and for good reason, California was an affordable land of opportunity. Today people are fleeing California and their high cost, high tax, high pressure, high tension existence and searching for their dreams elsewhere; by the 10’s of thousands each month. For the first time in it’s history more people moved out of California in 2021 than moved to it.
Can’t run the State on a country-size budget!
California's Governor often brags about having the 5th largest economy in all of the world; ahead of countries like the UK, India, France, Brazil…and many others, including Russia. Yet they fail to maintain such basics as functionally maintained infrastructure, law and order, crime prevention, clean and safe inner city streets, or civil services for homeless and street-living addicts. And unlike those countries they don’t have the fiscal challenge of a defense budget. Bragging about that seems somehow inappropriate.
Deep in debt!
At the same time, California’s dominant Democrat party likes to brags about their “budget surplus” the State is actually financially upside down. California state and local government debt is claimed to be about $1.6 trillion. If true that’s about $40,000 for every resident no matter what their age…..$160,000 of debt for a family of 4.
The California state operating debt alone stood at nearly $144 Billion as of 2021, and is expected to increase to just about $190 Billion by 2027. The highest in the nation and second only to New York state in debt per capita.
So why is Newsom in Florida essentially begging people to come to California?
Because as bad as all the above points out, he knows it’s going to get much, much worse. When that happens his political aspirations for a future Presidential run. The taint of the stink his tenure as Governor left on the state will linger forever. Remember his Covid “lock-down” policy that smashed businesses small and large, forced people out of their homes and left children with a huge education gap? Looking back at the data it apparently did nothing to improve the final outcome; more problem than solution.
Going to Florida: just a distraction.
Though he may actually be begging people to come back to California, it’s more likely he’s trying to bait Florida Governor Ron DeSantis into engaging in political tussle in a vain attempt to raise his visibility outside of California.
As handsome as Gavin is, and as leader-like as he looks, he has one giant Albatross around his neck; his record. Following behind Diane Feinstein as Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin and his policies pushed “the City by the Bay” off a cliff towards the chaotic liberalism that is killing that once great global tourism destination today. For an encore performance he moved from SF to the Governors Mansion in Sacramento bringing all of his hyper-liberal tendencies with him. The results have been essentially the same. California has been taken over by government unions and far-left factions of the once proud Democrat party. There one-party rule has made California one of the most business unfriendly, highest taxed, most expensive places imaginable. Simple things like gasoline, electricity, water are 50–100% higher than most of the rest of the nation. Things are so bad he barely avoided being recalled. A UC Berkeley poll at the time (July 2021) showed a 50/50 split to recall or not. A few days after that a SurveyUSA poll showed 51% wanted him to go. Keep in mind this is in a state dominated by his political party. Political considerations aside, that a pretty damning tale. But it was the numerical dominance of his party in California’s populous that eventually bailed him out; and California lost an opportunity to start to right itself.
California Politics: A guide to what not to do.
One thing California and the good Governor have done for the rest of the country is create a wonderfully comprehensive guide of what not to do. If a tough political questions emerges one only need to ask what would Gavin do…and then don’t do that. Before I left CA I used to ask friends (of all political persuasions) if they could name one thing they thought Newsom and his government were doing well. None of them had good answers.
Cranky?
If I sound pissed off and cranky it’s because I am. What has been done to California under liberal leaders like Gavin Newsom should be a crime punishable by law. The once great Golden State, the aspirational beacon for millions of people and thousands of businesses is now driving them away. It’s a disaster, that like a cancer, needs to be contained in California and not allowed to spread to the rest of the country until it can be cured.
