Gov. Newsom Neglects State for Presidential ‘Democracy’ Tour

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks in Los Angeles on Nov. 10, 2021. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Commentary

Do you think COVID-19 is bad? Far worse is Oval Office Fever. And Gov. Gavin Newsom has a bad case of it.

That explains his national Campaign for Democracy tour—even as the state he governs continues to deteriorate. It’s paid for by a new Political Action Committee (PAC) using funds he didn’t spend on his easy reelection last year. He’s visiting red states to help his fellow Democrats in elections against Republicans.

It’s a tactic used by Richard Nixon during the run-up to his 1968 presidential victory. His speechwriter at the time, Pat Buchanan, detailed that in his 2015 memoir, “The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority.” Nixon had lost the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy, then the 1962 campaign for California governor to incumbent Pat Brown.

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.

It’s worth reading everything Newsom said in his video announcement, because you can bet every word has been poll-tested:

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces his Campaign for Democracy tour on March 30, 2023. Screenshot via Twitter/Gavin Newsom

“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.

In this file photo, a man talks on his cell phone while riding on the back of a moving truck in Pacifica, Calif., on Jan. 26, 2016. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

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.

That explains why, as I detailed in my previous article, “Census Map Shows Dramatic California Exodus,” people are fleeing the Golden State in record numbers. If it’s so great here, according to Newsom, why are so many leaving for the red states he derides—and so many others planning their exits?

Using the Golden Gate Bridge in his ad is delusional. Data released March 30 by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed, according to the San Francisco Standard’s summary:

“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. ”

As to California supposedly being so prosperous, it suffers the highest poverty rate in the country. The homeless are everywhere, not just in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Yesterday I mailed a package at UPS in Costa Mesa, and a homeless woman was camping right next to the door. It’s an international scandal.

A homeless man in Huntington Beach, Calif., on March 17, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

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.

The state under Newsom refuses to take such common-sense measures to increase the housing supply as reforming the California Environmental Quality Act and repealing the anti-housing Senate Bill 375 from 2008. In these areas, Newsom is a “do-nothing” governor.

Crime is increasing and has become intolerable, especially in Los Angeles. From the Daily News: “Crime skyrockets on LA Metro system, including a jump in drug deaths: Some Metro board members say Sheriff’s deputies should leave their cars and ride transit.”

The “solution” from Newsom and state legislators is to pass yet more laws grabbing guns from law-abiding citizens, leaving them at the mercy of lawless criminals.

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.

Now he’s facing what could be a deficit $7 billion larger than his January estimate of $22.5 billion, according to the Legislative Analyst. That is, it’ll be almost $30 billion for fiscal year 2023-24, which begins on July 1. That updated estimate now is almost two months old. We’ll get better numbers when the May Revision to his January budget proposal is released in a month. The deficit actually could go much higher.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom leaves the stage after delivering his budget proposal in Sacramento on Jan. 10, 2023. José Luis Villegas/AP Photo

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.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.