Those of us with even a little gray hair remember a very different California.
When I graduated from high school in a miniature town in eastern Iowa in 1980, I had my sights set on Alaska; But life had a very different fate in store for me, as I ended up staying a little longer in Iowa (there was a girl involved who became my first wife), then in the Army, then in Colorado, and finally… Well, with you know the rest.
However, many of the kids my age headed to the West Coast. Back then, California was considered the land of endless possibilities: great climate, great landscape and great economy. Golden State had everything a juvenile person with massive plans could want.
Then came a Democratic supermajority in Sacramento and Democratic dominance of the state by the Los Angeles-Bay Area Axis powers, and California isn’t so golden these days. But an editorial published Monday by Issues & Insights takes a look at the just-past election gives us reason for hope.
California voters almost universally rejected left-wing ballot initiatives, often by enormous majorities. “State voters defeated the most progressive proposals,” noted an I&I official Thomas Buckley.
Examples:
- After previous minimum wage increases devastated local businesses and did little to improve the welfare of unskilled workers, a ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage to $18 lost by a margin of 51% to 49%.
- Even after Biden inflation drove up housing costs, voters rejected an initiative that would have allowed cities and counties to adopt strict rent control laws. Back in 1995, the state passed the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which prevented cities and counties from imposing rent control on certain types of housing or when units were vacant. By a whopping 60-40% majority, Californians voted to keep the 1995 law in place.
- A proposal to lower the threshold for local bond measures from a two-thirds majority to a 55 percent majority went down in flames, with 55 percent of Californians voting against it.
- By a margin of 69% to 31%, voters who have watched their cities being destroyed by crime said “enough” and approved a tough measure that would “enhance penalties for certain drug offenses and theft convictions and… would allow for a up-to-date class of offenses known as offenses requiring treatment.”
There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s go through them one by one:
The minimum wage. (We passed a minimum wage enhance here in Alaska this year, so I understand any reader telling me to mind my yard here.) Any minimum wage law is job-destroying. Gavin Newsom squeezed one Minimum wage enhance for speedy food workers – to which I would respond, “Do you want more burger bots?” Because that’s how you get more burger bots.” But the voters see the airy; This last attempt failed.
Rent controls. Supply and demand are inevitable, and rent controls reduce supply. Everywhere. Every time. Progressives in California can deplore the profit motive all they want, but if they want to provide rental properties, landlords must be able to make a profit from those rental properties. Rent controls are a socialist measure that, like most socialist measures, has never worked.
I’m a little more ambivalent about issuing local bonds, but in general making it harder to enhance government debt at any level is a good idea.
Crime. That’s the massive issue, and it’s the issue that California Republicans have to deal with every day and twice on Sunday. Crime by gangs, crime by illegal immigrants, crime by homeless addicts, it’s all crime, and Californians are suffering from the policies of progressive top cops and prosecutors connected to Soros, as well as stupid crime mitigation laws. This election shows us very clearly that the people of California have had enough.
California Republicans, take note: This could very well be your chance to win a true conservative governor in Sacramento. Convince Californians there is a better way.
Previously on RedState: REPORT: California leads ‘resistance’ against Orange Man. What’s bad?
Kamala Harris as governor of California? Here’s why it might happen.
Election integrity victory for Huntington Beach, California as judge rules they can proceed with voter ID
Is California turning the tide? Could the Golden State become a Purple State? It’s probably too early to tell, but the signs from this election are encouraging.
I spent quite a bit of time in California. I have maintained second homes in the Los Angeles area and Silicon Valley as part of long-term projects. It is a attractive place with a vigorous climate, a wide variety of landscapes and lots to see and do. I see the appeal – I really do. And I have many friends, some of them my colleagues at RedState and Townhall Media, who are staying the course and fighting for change in their home state – and I admire them greatly for that.
Maybe – just maybe – their efforts will work. Maybe California can turn things around. Maybe the California of the tardy 70s and early 80s is coming back. But it will probably take a few more elections, and for every two steps forward there may well be one step backwards. But it looks like the trend is at least going in the right direction.
