Who Wants to Follow California? | 5 Minute Videos
As goes California, so goes the nation. This used to be said as a compliment. Now it’s a cautionary tale, and the country would be wise to heed it. Political commentator Michael Anton explains.
#California #CaliforniaExodus #Liberal #Left
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Script:
Conventional wisdom has long held that as goes California so goes the nation.
Once, this was a glowing compliment.
Now it’s a cautionary tale.
If America “goes” California, it’s in big trouble.
This is a strange thing to say because California is as close to paradise as you can get to on this earth.
Its moderate, temperate climate is almost unrivaled. It is home to two of the world’s best natural harbors.
If outdoor recreation is your thing, you can ski or surf, scuba dive or sail, hike in the redwoods or climb Half Dome, all within a couple hours’ drive.
Just about the only thing wrong with California, from a natural point of view, are the earthquakes. But those are infrequent, and their bad effects can be mitigated by sound building practices.
The other disasters you hear about in the news—droughts and fires, mostly—are natural to be sure, but also manageable by human ingenuity: irrigation, water storage, forest management, and the like—all of which activists have been not merely neglecting but actively opposing.
And there you have, in a nutshell, the triumph and tragedy of California: The greatest spot on Earth for human habitation, a veritable Garden of Eden, is in danger of becoming a garbage dump—thanks to Californians.
The decline did not happen overnight.
For a century and more, those who settled there—not just from other parts of America but from all over the world—built the state into an economic, cultural, and technological powerhouse and middle-class paradise.
But for the last generation, they’ve been busily screwing it up.
Given the state’s enormous natural advantages, combined with the layers of sophisticated infrastructure and institutions built up over six generations, this was no easy task. But Californians, being a resourceful people, have managed.
The richest state in the union now has the most poverty.
The former middle-class paradise now suffers from stratospheric housing costs and overall cost of living.
The place where car culture was invented has the country’s highest gas prices—by a lot.
Crime is out of control. Huge sections of San Francisco and Los Angeles are virtual no-go zones. Open-air drug markets abound. Authorities do nothing. Or if the police do make arrests, the prosecutors simply let everyone go. Stores are closing all over, citing rampant theft.
The culture is suffocating. Carry the wrong type of shopping bag, drink through the wrong kind of straw, or call someone the wrong pronoun and expect to be ostracized or worse.
The public schools, lavishly funded, are abysmal.
And, of course, the taxes—especially sales and income—are among the highest in the nation.
California has come a long way—and not a good way—from the paradise the Beach Boys sang about in the 1960s or even the Baywatch image of the 1990s.
How did it happen?
Bad policy—some of it active, some passive, all of it deliberate.
The active includes draconian zoning, one-sided labor laws, and environmental regulations that make it extremely difficult to build new homes or new businesses.
The passive includes, above all, ignoring immigration laws. California is a sanctuary state.
The passive and active often combine. California politicians and businesses have actually encouraged illegal immigration for a generation—politicians for the votes, businesses to keep wages down.
If it weren’t for the weather (the one thing the politicians can’t screw up), the state today would have little to recommend it.
What is to be done?
It’s tempting to do nothing. Just let it go. If this is what those left coast loonies want, let ’em have it.
And yet. California is still a part of America, part of our country and our civilization. It was a huge asset to the nation and could be again—if (and it’s a big if) sane leadership were once again to take charge.
What would that require?
For the complete script, visit: https://www.prageru.com/video/who-wants-to-follow-california
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Be aware that the Californians who VOTED for these politicians are now fleeing the state….. taking their Leftwing ideology with them
It is like Locusts after having destroyed one field are now spreading to the next to destroy.
The problem with rich, nice places to live is that they attract liberals.
I live in Minnesota and our state government is trying to follow these failed policies. Really sad!!!
Wrong, wrong, wrong!!!!!!! Malcontents in California have made this bed (sorry old metaphor), let it run its course. DON'T MAKE THE REST OF THE US BAIL THEM OUT!
Crazy it was very red from the end of World War II through the early 1990s.
Tech oligarchs combined w a one party leftist system equals what we have today. (Well done everyone) no wonder everyone is leaving in drones.
Dude kinda looks like white Gus Fring
You can't vote anyone or anything out when massive voter fraud (such as ballot harvesting) is happening. Also impossible to vote in sane policies when most of the voters are leftists.
there is Not even Just one Prove or Statistic in this Video….
No matter how nice and beautiful your house is, if you let termites, rats, and cockroaches run rampant in it, it will eventually become uninhabitable.
I hate to say it but other states don't want people from California transplanting to them. Even the "Conservatives" from California are pretty left leaning and they have ruined the culture of some states which the the people of those states hate.
Utah, for example, is going through a Californication spree. Rise in Housing costs, land, and government intervention has become increasingly more prevalent and a lot of people have come from California bringing that change.
I don't have a single person in my neighborhood who was here in Utah, originally, any more. 5 of my neighbors came from California. 3 of them openly express how much they hate Utah law and rag on the Mormons all of the time (I'm not Mormon but they are good people). "Why did you move here then"?! None of them came here because they HAD to. They came here because it was cheaper… originally.
I hate to say it but either California needs to split into 2 states or it needs to be removed from the Union. The damage it is doing to the nation and itself is something that will be hard to bounce back from.
It used to be California Dreaming now it’s California Leaving.
dumpster fire 🔥
Nah, let the libs have California.
Defund the police.
Let The Purge Begin!
Let it burn.
Ca Still feeds 40% of the country, so we need to have good people flooding back to that state not leaving it. When federal government wants to control stuff, CA LAW MAKERS MAKE IT HAPPEN CAUSE THEY KNOW THEY HAVE ALL THE CARDS. I BLAME ALL THE PEOPLE WHOM HAVE FLED, I DONT SHAME THEM FOR LEAVING, BUT IF THEY ALL WOULD HAVE HUNG TOUGH AND PROMOTED MORE CONSERVATIVES TO HELP TAKE IT BACK, AND THATS ALL WE NEED NOW!
Car culture is objectively bad for society, and high gas prices are a good way of reducing it.
You're based in California you clowns
Now they let the homeless build encampments on sta te land. For this I pay huge taxes. Now they want to disarm Californi ans. 🙁
California, beauty always attracts ugly.
Ugly comes and so beauty leaves and all alike.
This is the tragic lesson of California.
Who wants to follow California?
Nevada's current governor.
It's as if California has become its own nation, and they didn't even secede.
The Governor is so excited to follow California that people are fleeing our state as well. Today we got notice that Property Taxes will go up this year over last year by 50% ! There is a law that prohibits them from raising the tax rate by more than 2%….so they are artificially going to raise property values on record by 50% across the board….and now it’s time for US to move…. I’m a California native and now will never even consider visiting that state ever again.
I hope you’re right. I’m in CA and its not looking good out here. And many of us are trapped here. We don’t have the extra funds to be able to move out of here. The primaries were not encouraging. We’re paying $6/gal for ga, crazy food prices/inflation, groomers teaching schools, rampant crime and homelessness and our politicians having lavish parties while the rest of us were masked up and locked down. And somehow these same politicians managed to not only survive but thrive during the primaries. UNBELIEVABLE. 🤦🏼♀️😒
only fascists are opposed to sanctuary of immigrants
At least half of America wants to follow 😂Californication for everyone.
Lee Kuan Yew: "Life is a relentless process of attrition" – I guess it's unavoidable that successful states / countries go down the gutter eventually.. sad as it is. You rest on your laurels, start handing out "free" stuff, and lose out to the guy who is hungry. It's part of life and human nature and unavoidable. Sad.
All it took is hand over the state that turned from Red to Blue. Once Blue, sadly became too solid and no longer can be changed to Red. It's best to leave the hell hole behind to avoid long term effects
This video is a complete lie