California Democrats Embrace Failure – What Can Republicans Do?

 

According to recent polling, the Election 2026 California Voter ID initiative is in danger of losing, even though a supermajority of Americans of all political backgrounds support Voter ID.

A 5% billionaire tax looks likely to win, even though the evidence against such proposals could not be clearer: higher taxes mean more rich people will flee to low-tax states, thus further depleting California’s already dwindling coffers.

What’s the matter with California voters? Why are they so addicted to failure? Why do they celebrate the continued demise of their once-great state?

The state of California remains the land of fruits and nuts, and all the common-sense reforms are facing failure. This is a hard pill for many to swallow on the right in general, among Republican circles in particular, and for the rest of the world watching, but Democrats don’t care. Power is the game, and the rest is chicken feed.

They dominate the voter rolls two-to-one.

They control every level of government.

They run the unions.

They have forced a hostile political takeover of big business, too. Chevron and pharmaceutical companies, and major financial firms want a seat at the table to stop the worst of the worst.

Every major identity politics special interest runs the state, too. From LGBT to Black Liberation, the left-wing smorgasbord of “give my wages” hunkers down on Democratic lawmakers, demanding their piece of the increasingly receding budget.

The Democratic Socialists of America have been on a tear across California, taking over major city councils and pushing out weak Democratic lawmakers for the last ten years. The Election 2024 witnessed a particular bloodbath for the more establishment wing of the party. Retiring state assemblymembers flooded city council and county board of supervisors races in safe Democratic seats, hoping to prolong their political careers and pack their pensions. They all crashed and burned to local grassroots candidates, who were pumped up by socialist activists who clamor for the Revolution—and they want it now!

The DSA pushed hard for Tom Steyer as Democratic nominee, and they will press harder on former AG Xavier Becerra to give them everything they want once he gets elected in November. The labor unions, business interests, and other identity political groups are too scared to stop the DSA takeover, by the way.

Mainstream California voters are not mainstream in general. They are so whacked-out that 58% of the electorate voted for Kamala Harris to be the next President—and she was terrible!

California voters will choose reforms only when pushed to their absolute limit. Crime is awful, and even the rich leftists, who love their ritzy cars and rich homes, don’t want to get robbed or mugged. Hence, Prop 36 passed in 2024, making repeated thefts chargeable as felonies once again. Ethnic posturing still matters to these voters, and they won’t allow opposing identity politics to frustrate their individual ambitions. Asian-American interest groups across the state, along with woke white liberals who bemoan their privilege on social media but cash in when it counts, fought hard to stop the repeal of Prop 209, passed in 1996. They still want their kids to get into Harvard and get the best jobs when they come back. They voted against Prop 16, which failed in 2020.

Since woke California voters aren’t hurting enough, they gleefully pivot to their default: blame Republicans and blast Donald Trump. True to their mania, No Kings is their mantra. Their hatred of Trump and all things MAGA keeps them up at night.

Hoping to see change, I attended a number of California town halls hosted by Democratic politicians over the last few years. A few voters complain about the cost of living, and they will ask a representative to lower their taxes, stop encroaching on their private lives, and respect parental rights.

But they only ask. They don’t demand, and they forget that they can do something more about it. Sadly, none of these voters put two and two together to recognize that the Democratic hegemony in the state has given rise to all the problems they are facing.

The same frustrated voters revert to left-wing talking points, expecting that their representatives will do more of the same, just bigger, faster, harder, and longer.

Homeless problem? Spend more money, but provide more oversight. As if! The homeless industrial complex loves California, where coordinators and homeless advocates make six figures managing—not solving—the mess. Why would they want to end homelessness? The solution would cut off their meal ticket.

Housing costs too high? Rent control will make those greedy landlords stop gouging their tenants. How’s that worked? Skyrocketing housing costs just keep climbing across the Golden State.

Homes burned down in the Palisades? You can’t stop fighting climate change, but make sure that the firefighters have water and manpower. In the case of Los Angeles, women power, since the County and the city care more about DEI than if residents DIE.

Kids failing their classes? The voters insist on hiring more teachers. Fix the teacher shortage with more so that class sizes shrink, then the teachers can help all the kids. Never mind the fact that California teachers are terrified of their students. They cannot discipline them, and they cannot focus on basic academics since the state, the county, and the district administration adamantly insist on promoting all the government-funded extracurriculars. Teachers are fleeing the profession, while the few who remain fight for their lives. And yet, they don’t see that their jobs are hellish because of the lawmakers who have limited their time and authority in the classroom.

Even now, they refuse to see it!

Who has solutions to all these problems? Republicans in the supermajority. The California Republican Party is holding onto some semblance of sanity in their party platform. Roxanne Hoge, the chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, frequently tweets out “Try something else” or “Vote Republican.”

And yet … for the 44% of Democratic registered voters in the state:

·         Anything proposed by a Republican is bad.

·         Anything that mentions or is connected to Trump is bad.

·         Anything that did not come from the pen or the mouth of Governor Gavin Newsom or his political successors is bad.

Solutions are not their concern. Virtue-signaling rules the day, and the determined push of the Democratic brainwashed voters for diversity, equity, and inclusion is the major good.

As long as utopian fantasy precedes fixing problems, Republicans, conservatives, and common-sense advocates are going to keep running into a brick wall of failure trying to turn the state around. Popular ideas like right-to-work, Voter ID, and lowering taxes will always fail.

Perhaps California conservatives should focus on making their cities as immune as possible to the terrible leadership in Sacramento, then build farm teams of success at the local and county level before taking on the entire state.

If California voters haven’t suffered enough, then let them hurt some more until they come to their senses and beg for change. Until then, let them suffer until they have nothing left with which to ruin the state. This approach will take longer, and no one likes the idea of watching their beloved home collapse, but what other choice remains?