They’re not “misguided” — in fact, they’re doing exactly what the progressives designed them to do. Higher housing prices means more money in the pockets of Angelenos and San Franciscans when they go to sell, high energy prices have a disproportionate impact on the poor, generous welfare “benefits” mean an endless supply of new Democrats and permanent employment for the public-employee unions who actually run the state.
It’s a perfect racket, and one that will continue unless and until the California Republicans get their act together and begin vigorously contesting what has become a one-party state designed to enrich those at the top, beggar the middle class, and keep those on the bottom in permanent penury.
Not clear to me there’s anything that California Republicans (such as they are) can do about it. It will continue until they run out of other peoples’ money. Though perhaps the new inability to deduct all of the state taxes will give them a campaign issue.
Given the extent to which election “law” in Comifornia allows fraud and eliminates challengers, any challenge to the democrat party has an uphill climb. Bankruptcy and reversion to a territory, or something even more traumatic, may be the only way out.
Although it would seem bankruptcy would work, they’ve had cash flow issues in the past and just papered over them. Instead of a paycheck, state government employees got vouchers with arrangement with banks to cash them. They can operate for a generation before anybody even notices they’ve run out of other peoples money.
Has reversion to a territory ever happened? They have 1/7th the countries population and 1/3rd of all Americans living under the poverty line.
Perhaps we could pass a law that any state with more than 1/6th of America’s population should be divided into two states of equal population?
Why bother if you are a Republican. I don’t mean to dismiss California, but let’s look at what we know. Progressives, as is their history, want to destroy their ideological opponents physically as well metaphorically. Because if various criminal laws, this is mostly noticed by just targeting a Republican’s career. Like Hollywood actresses that has enough self-respect not to sleep with Harvey, people of conservative minds are black listes throughout California. Their businesses targeted. Their families harassed. And forget calling the cops, as we saw in Berkeley or allegations against Weinstein, California police won’t help a conservative at best or may actively be supporting the Progressive attackers.
There are always brave people with F’u kind of money and time, but not enough to sway California. And if you got the money, why invest it in fighting a lost cause?
I think they’re bolder about wanting to kill off their opposition because they see how diminished it is in their home state, and assume it’s true everywhere.
Having a real fight on their hands at home would send most Caliprogs catatonic, I suspect.
We need California as a dumping ground for the nation’s poor. The LA Times reports California has 12% of US population but 34% of those on welfare. When I was in LA recently helping a friend move out of state it looked like a third world country with all the homeless leaving in the streets.
Legal weed will help prop them up but it also fits the them presented in the quotes. State sanctioned selling of an addictive product that is most commonly used people with lower incomes and taxed regressivly. This siphons even more money out of the poor and keeps them dependent on the state.
We had a good run, but corruption has won.
This is why I live in noplace AZ. My neighbors keep the corruption at bay.
France’s GDP growth is a lot lower than US GDP growth. California’s natural beauty, good weather and attraction of innovators has kept it growing on a total and per-capita gdp basis, but birth and international immigration are tempered by 60k in net interstate outmigration in 2014 which shaves their population growth by about 1/7th. I don’t see it losing steam for some generations. https://www.statista.com/statistics/206097/resident-population-in-california/ https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth https://tradingeconomics.com/france/gdp-growth