With current events in the once-Golden state, it’s tempting to ask California voters one question: “What more will it take? What more proof do you need that the Democrat cabal that has been running your state has no idea what they are doing? What more will it take to get you to change your voting habits?
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The fires that have burned tens of thousands of acres and hundreds of homes, over the last few days speak volumes about the manifest failures of California’s ruling class. Several problems contributed to these blazes.
First, inadequate or non-existent water policies:
The cataclysmic fires in Los Angeles also ignited another water-supply issue. Newsom and other Democratic officials in Sacramento now face renewed criticism over failing to build a single reservoir since 1979, despite a 2014 voter-passed $7.5 billion water bond ballot initiative that authorized the creation of new reservoirs and several other water infrastructure projects. As of 2022, no new storage projects were under construction, but proponents said there were as many as seven still in the planning and feasibility study phases.
It’s unclear what additional red tape the planned reservoirs still face. In 2022, the Los Angeles Times acknowledged that California’s government bureaucracies move at a “glacial pace,” and in the fall of 2021, Newsom created “strike teams” to help speed up the projects.
Under the proposition, $2.7 billion is slated for water storage, but the state funds can be used for “public benefits” as well, including salmon protection, recreation, and flood control.
Not one new reservoir since 1979. Not one. California is a mostly arid state. Frankly, much of it is desert or near desert, including big parts of the burned areas. California will bend efforts for fish, but not to build more reservoirs for drinking water – or water to combat fires.
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Second, the California officials involved; to call them incompetent would be something of an understatement. One key official wasn’t even in the state.
We start with Mayor Karen Bass. As the Palisades fire began to consume wide swaths of America’s second-largest city, she was in Ghana to watch the inauguration of that country’s new president.
Bass left Los Angeles on Saturday—two days after the National Weather Service warned that strong winds and “extreme fire weather conditions” would soon threaten the city. On Sunday, the NWS announced a fire weather watch. By Monday, the warnings had become much more urgent, with the NWS tweeting in all-caps that “A LIFE-THREATENING, DESTRUCTIVE, Widespread Windstorm” would hit L.A. imminently.
READ MORE: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Shredded by Journo During Interview for Being AWOL As Wildfires Rage
But it doesn’t stop with the Mayor. The Fire Chief – well, she ticks off some DEI boxes. And that’s about it.
In 2022, Kristin Crowley was sworn in as the 19th fire chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Her appointment marked the first female and openly gay person to lead the department.
Speaking with NBC 4 on the day her appointment was unanimously confirmed by the City Council, Crowley said she is “super inspired” about bringing diversity into the fire department. She said she’s not looking for a specific “number, it’s never enough.”
Nothing in there about hiring people who can actually, you know, do the job. No, it’s all about diversity – even when fires are raging out of control.
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My colleague Bonchie nailed this LA Fire Chief earlier:
As RedState reported, despite suffering staffing and financial difficulties, LAFD Fire Chief Kristen Crowley, celebrated as the “first LGBTQ+” person to hold the position, decided to spend millions of dollars on the creation of a “DEI bureau” to help combat the “crisis” of there not being enough women and gay people within the department.
This is pretty much the definition of fiddling while Rome – excuse me, Los Angeles – burns.
And finally, insurance companies have had enough; they’re bailing.
In 1988, California voters passed Proposition 103, which gave the state’s Department of Insurance the power to approve rates or even roll them back. So, insurance companies that want to raise rates have to go through a regulatory process that can take months or even years, hindering their ability to adequately adjust rates to cover their losses and assess risk.
Since they can’t adjust rates – they are leaving.
It’s a perfect storm of stupid governance in California. And some of the very people who have been burned out have paid the price.
Where does California go from here?
See Related: New Aerial Photos From Palisades Fire Show Unfathomable Devastation
NEW: LAFD Assistant Chief Made a DEI Video That Will Blow Your Mind and Have You Seeing Red
The silver lining behind this big, dark, soot-laden cloud is this: California’s politics may be changing now. There may be an incoming preference cascade. California doesn’t have to turn into Alabama or Texas, politically, but even some moderation – some sanity – will result.
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It’s too early to tell, of course, but maybe this will end up being a turning point. As the fires finally burn out, and as the people who lost their properties return to take stock, maybe the talk will turn towards alternatives. Maybe a preference cascade will begin; maybe that cascade will wash in a more responsible government in the state of California.
Look, I get it. California has been an open playground for the left for quite a while now. Now we see, again, the results. But I’d like to believe there’s a way back. I have friends in California who have been fighting the good fight for the Golden State; it’s their home, and they love it – home is home, after all. Maybe these fires will be the last straw. Maybe, if the California GOP can make their case for responsible government, things may just take a turn towards the sane in California. Maybe something good may end up coming out of this disaster.