California: From Golden State to Foldin’ State In One Generation

California: From Golden State to Foldin’ State In One Generation

The late, great state of California used to be the envy of the entire world. One of the most laid back, diverse and accepting places on Earth, it has outstanding weather, hundreds of miles of beaches and every other conceivable recreation opportunity. It is home to countless economic engines, such as Hollywood, the film and music industries and technology-rich Silicon Valley. It also produces some of the finest wines available in the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma counties. With all of that going for it, you’d think a state like California, with its economic powerhouses, vast resources and some of the highest tax rates in the nation, would at least be financially solvent, if not prosperous. But nothing could be further than the truth.

I used to call the Golden State home. But I left the state of my birth after more than 35 years because of the explosion of crime, the expansion of the welfare state, its perpetual one-party rule and the endless tidal wave of illegal immigration overtaking the entire state. I sensed then, that the good times couldn’t last forever, that they’d one day come to an end, at which point the house of cards would come tumbling down. And now, here we are. After decades of precariously teetering over the edge, the state of California is about to tumble headlong into the abyss and no one can really say where that leads.


Although it is currently the world’s ninth largest economy, a few decades ago, they were the fifth largest, a testament to Democrat control. Although Obama supporters still use the stale excuse that they inherited the nationwide mess from Republicans, notwithstanding the fact that it is still getting worse, the leadership of California has no such excuse to fall back on. Republicans have been a solid minority for decades.

Having spent themselves into insolvency to the tune of 26 billion dollars, the state has resorted to issuing I.O.U.s, closing state offices and putting state employees on ever-expanding indefinite furloughs. Absent a political agreement on the state budget and continuing down the same path, the country’s most populous state will soon implode entirely. The voters, the governor and the legislature are all engaged in a giant game of political chicken, trying to get the other side to flinch first. And while my money is on the voters, one can never underestimate the cunning or stubbornness of recalcitrant politicians with insatiable egos.

California’s current troubles were a long time coming. They were entirely foreseeable, entirely avoidable and the direct result of an entrenched Democrat Legislature that lacks the political will to make the tough choices necessary to fix the root of the problem; too much spending. But, overspending and budget deadlock in the nation’s most populous state are nothing new. California has faced tough budget negotiations many times. Overextending yourself is a California way of life that transcends class and affects nearly everyone, including the political establishment. State workers there are paid nearly twice the salaries of their counterparts in other west coast states and there are thousands of them. Still, this massive, well-paid, single-party bureaucracy has turned California into a third-world welfare state with a credit rating that is fast approaching “junk”.

The citizens of California already bear some of the most oppressive tax burdens in the nation and have said no more balanced budgets on the backs of taxpayers. The state has overspent and mismanaged for decades and now many of the same people who caused the mess want to raise taxes yet again in the midst of a recession to cover up their bureaucratic buffoonery. Strapped citizens want government to begin cutting services, but the Democrat-controlled Legislative branch is having none of that. Instead of working together with the governor to cut the size of state government, and thus its ability to cause another crisis, California bureaucrats attack the state’s initiative process, calling it a huge mistake that puts too much power in the hands of voters, who are, because of their alleged political inexperience (which completely ignores history), too ignorant to make sound decisions.

This is the politicians’ mess. The only logical way to fix it is to shrink the size of California’s government so they don’t have the opportunity to screw it up again. “As goes California, so goes the nation.” For the sake of the rest of the country, let’s hope not.