Admittedly, I was shocked to see a headline over at the liberal Los Angeles Times admitting that a President Joe Biden will “make America California again”…. and then I realized they were presenting that fact as a positive.
The Golden State has been plagued by high living costs, poverty, a massive homelessness population, and residents fleeing left and right. And apparently, that’s a model for America according to our nation’s liberals.
According to the LA Times:
California is emerging as the de facto policy think tank of the Biden-Harris administration and of a Congress soon to be under Democratic control. That’s rekindling past cliches about the state — incubator of innovation, premier laboratory of democracy, land of big ideas — even as it struggles with surging COVID-19 infections, a safety net frayed by the pandemic’s toll, crushing housing costs and wildfires, all fueling an exodus of residents.
So, they’re looking to the state for inspiration while also realizing that it’s uninhabitable. The Times continued, noting that the people the electoral college was designed to protect us from will soon be running the show:
“California has never had a Democrat on a national ticket, much less a ticket that won,” said former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. “Kamala Harris will be in all the meetings and have the last word with the president after they are over. She’ll be sharing ideas, innovations and breakthroughs from California that might help solve problems on the national level.”
Other Californians will be doing the same from Biden’s Cabinet. Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra is nominated to run the massive Health and Human Services Department. The nominee for Treasury secretary, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, is a professor at UC Berkeley, as is the nominee for Energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm. Longtime California resident Alejandro Mayorkas is the nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security.
And in Congress, of course, San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi will be running point on the California agenda as House speaker.
Among California’s “most pioneering initiatives” that the incoming administration has embraced includes decarbonizing the electricity grid, tuition-free college, banning mandatory arbitrary clauses in employee contracts, and a revival of “Cash for Clunkers” (of which California has their own state version) for environmental reasons.
Biden has also recently called for “at least” a $15 minimum wage.
The Times admits that even some ideas that “haven’t worked out so well” are part of Biden’s agenda, such as a federal law mimicking California’s disastrous gig economy law that voters weakened in November. Of course, the other ideas listed previously haven’t worked out well either. California’s environmental policies have led to their citizens paying among the most for electricity in the nation, and rolling blackouts (which the Times makes note of in detailing why we need to be more like California).
Barely anyone actually uses California’s Cash for Clunkers program, and tuition free college tends to disproportionately benefit those from well off backgrounds.
The Times tells us that “California’s influence will be felt in how Americans power their homes and cars, and even in how they save for retirement.”
“California is not just about pushing the envelope, it is about tearing it apart,” said former state Senate leader Kevin de León, who helped the state implement some of the innovative ideas the incoming administration wants to pursue. “The state is full of disruptors and malcontents who are impatient and have no problem challenging the status quo.”
As for the current status quo in California:
- Even though 43 percent of California’s general-fund budget is earmarked for K-14 education, California students under-perform the national average on reading and math scores (source: pages 24 and 25).
- The percentage of Californians attending a four year college hasn’t changed in fifty years, despite the trend nationally being upward.
- During a time period when California’s prison population declined 12%, spending on prison guards increased by $500 million.
- California only builds 44% of the housing it needs annually, costing the State $140 billion a year in economic output due to people who can’t afford to live and work in California (source: page 17).
- Electricity prices in California rose five times faster than the national average between 2011-2017, and Californians pay 60% higher than the national average for electricity. This is despite California having the highest output of hydroelectricity, which is the State’s cheapest source of electricity (source: page 39).
- According to the American Society of Civil Engineers “report card,” California earns a D+.
- CO2 emissions rose in California from 2011-2015 while they fell in the rest of the country during the same period (source: page 26).
- “Despite” having the strictest gun laws in the nation, California had more mass slaying in 2019 than any other state.
If there’s anything to be gleaned from those fleeing California in droves (a net 135,600 last year – the third highest ever recorded), it’s that they’d much rather their country become “Texas or Florida again.”
