For a very long time during these past nearly two centuries, the Golden State of California was seen as America's bright, sunny future, full of endless promise and opportunity.
A large number of Republicans have served as governor of the third-largest state, most notably Ronald Reagan, who served eight years in Sacramento before then doing the same in Washington as president.
Starting after World War II, the state experienced a dramatic surge in economic growth and prosperity that drew millions of new residents from other states, with a mushrooming of jobs, highways, and affordable housing to accommodate everyone. Not to mention a climate to enjoy basically year-round.
In 1962, California surpassed New York as the most populous state. California's population has doubled since then.
It should, however, be even larger. Beginning about 15 years ago, California began hemorrhaging people. Since then, more than 10 million residents have left the state.
Fled might be a better word. High living costs, exorbitant taxes, outrageous housing prices, and, more recently, careless (some might say, mindless) government have combined to drive these people to other states, many of them not politically blue.
So many have left, in fact, that after the last Census, for the first time, California lost one of its House seats and is on track to lose more; red states that gained population and House representation included Texas, Florida, and Montana.
Businesses, too, have departed, taking present and future jobs and investments with them. For reasons of ignorance and freebies, Californians have taken to electing Democrat super-majorities, who didn't see affordable housing, a surging homeless population, and even capable government as a priority for anything but talk. Same for water resources and wildfire management.
More important were such things as banning plastic straws and also those tiny shampoo bottles neatly aligned on hotel bathroom counters. Who could abide living in a society that permitted such atrocities?
Since cutting government spending to match income is out of the question for progressives, the only way Democrats see to address exploding government spending, quite obviously, is raising taxes. Under consideration now is appropriating five percent of the uber-wealthy's assets. No way around it, you understand.
They don't mind discriminating against that minority.
Happily presiding over this festering mess as governor is Gavin Newsom, who's happily cashed his government paychecks for one office or another since late last century.
Here's just one new example of Newsom's government management expertise, a massive hospice fraud with 197 agencies registered to the very same address. Newsom has vowed a crackdown. Here's a whole bunch more examples of what this man would like to bestow on America.
For a change, Gov. Newsom was in California this week, where he was forced to confront revelations in the N.Y. Times that iconic Democrat labor leader Cesar Chavez abused and raped women and girls in the 1960s and 70s.
He's term-limited in California. So, Newsom is focused on next drawing a federal government paycheck as president after the 2028 election. Such a position would give him the golden opportunity to share his disastrous policies with the other 49 states. Media is helping him, but fortunately, normal people will have a say.
Don't say you were not warned!
That's the topic of this week's audio commentary, accessible by clicking on the flag here:
This week's Sunday column looked at what both George Washington and Donald Trump share as the first and latest president.
This week I posted another in the ongoing series of Malcolm's Memories, Me and Huck Down by the River.
The most recent audio commentary examined an interesting, though little-noticed phenomenon in modern American life, our lost ability to wait for anything or everything.
Quick, read it.
