Do you think COVID-19 is bad? Far worse is Oval Office Fever. And Gov. Gavin Newsom has a bad case of it.
Newsom, of course, doesn’t need a “comeback.” But he’s following Nixon’s pattern of getting to know fellow party members by helping them in their elections. The help then translates into support in future presidential primaries and party caucuses.
“Let’s be direct. We can’t solve a problem without first identifying it. And the problem in our country right now: authoritarian leaders [shows pictures of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee, and former President Trump] who are so hellbent on gaining power and keeping it by whatever means necessary that they’re directly attacking our freedoms in state after state.
“That’s why I’m launching the Campaign for Democracy. We’re going on the road to take the fight to states where freedom is most under attack, where Republican leaders ban books, criminalize doctors, fire teachers, intimidate librarians, kidnap migrants, target trans kids, stoke racism, condone antisemitism, force the victims of rape and incest to carry their attacker’s baby, where they ignore the will of the people, and make it harder to vote and easier to buy assault weapons.
“They fan the flames of culture wars [pictures of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Sen. Josh Hawley] to distract from the fact that blue states have lower murder rates, better health care outcomes, and higher GDPs [picture of the Golden Gate Bridge].
“We’re going to these states and investing in people and organizations where they’re fighting back. We know we have a big battle coming. Which is why we’ll help lead the fight to make sure we elect leaders in 2024 [pictures of President Biden and Vice President Harris] who believe in democracy. Our country is facing an existential battle [pictures on the left show progressive activists, with conservatives on the right] for who we are and who we’re willing to become. It’s not an exaggeration. That’s the truth. What’s happening in those red states, it’s not who we are. It’s un-American, it’s undemocratic, and all it takes to fight back is a willingness to stand toe to toe and say, enough.
“That’s what the Campaign for Democracy is all about. We’re doing this because, well, the future isn’t just something that happens to us, it’s something we can create. So join the movement. Join us at campaignfordemocracy.com.”
It would take a book to refute all the fallacies contained in that two minutes. Instead, let’s look at the California he left behind when he went on his tour.
Fleeing to Freedom
People flee tyrannies for free, democratic countries. I remember how, in 1975, as the communist North Vietnamese Army blitzkrieged into South Vietnam, the people fled toward Saigon, the capital of free South Vietnam. Then when Saigon was taken, they took to the sea as the Boat People, hundreds of thousands coming to Orange County, where I live. Many of them are my friends.I also have known Chinese people who fled the communist takeover of the Mainland in 1949, first to Taiwan—the Republic of China—then to America.
In my own family, on my father’s side we come from Romania. My grandparents, both immigrants, sent money back to the Old Country whenever someone visited there to avoid it being stolen by the communist authorities if it was sent by post or wire.
“The U.S. Census estimates the 2022 population of the City and County of San Francisco to be 808,437, representing a loss of 65,000 people and 7.5% compared to 2020. ... A closer look at the Bay Area numbers tells a more dramatic story: The nine-county region has lost a quarter million residents between 2020 and 2022, or a 3.2% decline. ”
Homeless and Crime
The state’s homelessness crisis is tied to its sky-high real-state prices, including rents, that have receded only slightly as a recession advances. Bills to increase supply, such as Senate Bills 9 and 10, were passed by the Legislature and signed by Newsom, but have had little effect.Budget Deficits Return
The one thing a state governor has most control over is a state budget. Newsom wasted last year’s $100 billion surplus by not using it to reform the state budget process, especially an unbalanced tax structure that depends too much on the up and down swings of the PIT—the personal income tax.Conclusion
Whether Newsom runs in 2024 if Biden drops out, or more likely in 2028, he’s going to face the dismal reputation California now has around the nation, and the world. If another of the state’s budget crises hits hard, he’ll have to raise taxes, as happened in 1991, 2003, and 2009. That will only increase voters’ suspicion of the California governor.I haven’t even touched on the state’s dismal performance on education test scores, highest national gas prices, ludicrous anti-business regulations, political dominance by public-employee unions, and status as a one-party state that contradicts Newsom’s over-repetition of the word “democracy.” He only has millions to spend on his Democracy Tour because there was no strong opposition to his 2022 re-election bid—that was, for voters, no democratic choice.