Those of us with even a little gray hair remember a very different California.

When I graduated from my small-town Eastern Iowa high school in 1980, I initially had my sights set on Alaska, even then; but life had a very different fate in store for me, as I ended up staying in Iowa a little longer (there was a girl involved, who became my first wife) then the Army, then Colorado, and finally... Well, you know the rest.

A lot of the kids my age, though, set out for the West Coast. California, back then, was considered the land of endless opportunity: great climate, great scenery, and great economy. The Golden State, as was, had everything a young person with big plans could want.

Then came a Democrat supermajority in Sacramento and Democrat dominance of the state by the Los Angeles-Bay Area Axis, and California, these days, isn't so golden anymore. But an editorial put out Monday by Issues & Insights takes a look at the election just past and gives us some reason for hope.

Almost across the board, California voters rejected leftist ballot initiatives, often by wide margins. “State voters took a hammer to the most progressive propositions,” noted I&I contributor Thomas Buckley.

Examples:

• After watching previous minimum wage increases devastate local businesses and do little to improve the welfare of unskilled workers, a ballot initiative to hike the state’s minimum wage to $18 lost by a 51% to 49% margin.
• Even after Bidenflation drove up housing costs, voters rejected an initiative that would have let cities and counties impose strict rent control laws. Back in 1995, the state approved the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which blocked cities and counties from imposing rent control on certain types of housing or when units become vacant. By a whopping 60%-40% margin, Californians voted to keep that 1995 law in place.
• A proposal to lower the threshold for local bond measures from a two-thirds supermajorty to a 55% majority went down in flames, with 55% of Californians voting against it.
• By a 69% to 31% margin, voters who’ve watched their cities get ripped apart by crime said “enough,” and approved a tough-on-crime measure that would “increase penalties for certain drug crimes and theft convictions and allow a new class of crime to be called treatment-mandated felony.”

There's a fair amount to unpack here, so let's take them one by one:

The minimum wage. (We passed a minimum-wage hike here in Alaska this year, so I'll understand any readers telling me to mind my yard here.) Every minimum-wage law is a job-killer. Gavin Newsom pushed a minimum wage hike on fast food workers — to which I would reply, "Do you want more burger bots? Because this is how you get more burger bots." But voters are seeing the light; this latest effort failed.

Rent Controls. Supply and demand are inevitable, and rent controls reduce supply. Everywhere. Every time. California progressives can bemoan the profit motive all they like, but if they want rental properties to be available, then landlords have to be able to realize a gain from those rentals. Rent controls are a socialist measure that, like most socialist measures, have never, ever worked.

I'm rather more ambiguous on the local bond issue, but in general, making it harder to increase government debt at any level is a good idea.

Crime. This is the big one, and this is the issue that California Republicans need to hammer every day and twice on Sunday. Crime by gangs, crime by illegal aliens, crime by homeless addicts, it's all crime, and California's residents are suffering from the policies of Soros-affiliated progressive top cops and district attorneys, as well as stupid soft-on-crime laws. This election is showing us very plainly that the people of California have had enough.

California Republicans, take note: This may well be your chance to land an actual conservative governor in Sacramento. Convince Californians that there is a better way.

Previously on RedState: REPORT: California to Lead 'Resistance' Against the Orange Man What Is Bad

Kamala Harris for California Governor? Here’s Why It Could Happen.

Election Integrity Win for Huntington Beach, CA, As Judge Rules They Can Proceed With Voter ID

Is California turning the corner? Could the Golden State become a purple state? It's probably too soon to tell, but the signs from this election are encouraging.

I've spent a fair amount of time in California. I have, while on long-term projects, maintained second homes in the Los Angeles area and in Silicon Valley. It's a lovely place, with a salubrious climate, a wide variety of landscapes, and plenty to see and do. I see the appeal — I really do. And I have many friends, some of them my RedState and Townhall Media colleagues, who are staying the course, fighting to turn their home state around — and I admire them greatly for that.

Maybe — just maybe — their efforts are working. Maybe California is turning the corner. Maybe the California of the late '70s and early '80s will come back. But it's likely to take a few more elections, and for every two steps forward, there may well be one step back. But it looks as though the trend is, at least, moving the right way.