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?
