Don’t Let the Country Become California

By Jayme Chandler

With its jagged cliff beaches, clear blue skies, snowy mountains, redwood-lined valleys, pink-skied deserts, and perfect weather, California is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Californian cities were once filled with culture, history, charm, innovation, and entrepreneurship. The state has it all— San Francisco, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Big Sur, Los Angeles—there was no shortage of divine beauty and mind-blowing economic opportunity in California. For decades, the Golden State symbolized the pinnacle of the American Dream, as it welcomed an array of industries, businesses, cultures, and millions of people from around the world. However, times have vastly changed in California, and I no longer recognize the state I was born and raised in. Once the land of community, achievement, and prosperity, it has become a place of unaffordable rents, disparity, and destitution. It is hard to believe that our nation's most promising state has deteriorated to the unsustainable and unlivable conditions seen across our cities today. 

California is a difficult state to ruin, yet our leadership has somehow managed to do it. The new reality of California cities, overwhelmed by homelessness, filth, drug possession, crime, unaffordable housing, and more, is entirely thanks to our leadership. Our Governor, Senators, Representatives, and Mayors have irrefutably failed our citizens and state for the last ten years. They stood idly by, ignoring the problems of everyday Californians, while haphazardly ramming forward an agenda that seemingly exacerbates every issue our state faces. What do these politicians have in common? They all subscribe to the same progressive doctrine and peddle the same leftist policies. Unlike other states that benefit from partisanship's natural checking tendencies, Democrats hold every major state and federal office in California and a supermajority in both houses of the legislature. In short, the Democrats are in complete control.

From the finger-pointing seen at the national level, you'd imagine a supermajority would mean the perfect implementation of progressive policies and the realization of the pseudo-socialist utopia the Democrats dream about. But, the liberal policies enacted in California have created the exact opposite of their stated purpose. California has the greatest poverty and some of the highest wealth inequality of any state. All told, more than a third of Californians live at or near the poverty line, with 12.8% of the population living below the poverty line and 17.8% of Californians living near the poverty line. With rampant homelessness and a fleeing middle class, California essentially has the wealth disparity of a third-world nation. This disconnect inherently stratifies California's society along economic lines, eviscerating the middle class and creating two parallel Californias: one for the wealthy and one for the poor. This is the reality of progressivism: a welfare state funded by excessive taxation, which only the rich can afford, mismanaged by a bloated bureaucracy, resulting in high crime, homelessness, and filth. 

Understandably, middle-class Californians are fleeing the state in droves. NBC Bay Area reported that in 2019, "for the seventh straight year, more people left California than moved in, according to new census data. More than 86,000 people left California for Texas, nearly 70,000 left for Arizona and about 55,000 left for Washington." Unlike California, these states offer greater economic freedom and act as tax havens that don't rob people blind. In a poll done for California registered voters, 52% of residents stated they have thought about leaving as well; 71% of those people stated because of high housing costs, and 58% said because of high taxes. An article in The Hill blames California's mass exodus on liberal policies: "California boasted the highest marginal tax rate in the U.S., at 12.3 percent, with an additional 1 percent slapped on to those making $1 million or more… In other words, California legislators, who endlessly proclaim their concern for the poor, have embraced policies that are driving low-income people out of their state." 

What's worse is that California's tax policies are becoming increasingly radical and show no signs of slowing. California currently has a bill, AB 1253, in committee, which would hike the tax rate of California's richest by 3.5%, retroactively. This means that Californians would pay an increased tax on income already earned, starting in January of this year. Another bill AB 2088, proposes a 0.4% wealth tax (a tax on all assets) on people worth more than $30 million, with eligible taxpayers paying the tax for an additional ten years should they leave the state. Though the tax would only affect 35,000 Californians, the ten-year rule is terrifying. With wealthy Californians already fleeing the state and California's tax agency aggressively following, this sort of verbiage brings into question the long-term viability of even setting and accruing wealth in the state. Logically, if the state can pursue income earned in California, regardless of official residency, why even bother building the business in California? While Democrats argue that these policies affect only the wealthiest Californians, who they claim should pay more to support the states' vast welfare apparatus, some experts are worried about millionaire flight. When Maryland passed its 2008 "millionaires tax," it lost an estimated 33% of impacted taxpayers. With businesses already struggling through COVID-19, wealthy business owners could take their services and jobs to more affordable states. 

 With as much revenue as California brings in, it’s remarkably difficult and frustrating to see where and how that money is spent. The state taxes anything that moves, and spends millions on social welfare, job programs, and prison reform, yet has nothing to show for it. While California is home to just over 12% of all Americans, 25% of the nation’s homeless people live in California—  a staggering 150,000 people. It’s important to contextualize California’s homelessness in regard to other states. In 2019, for every 10,000 individuals, 38 were homeless in California. The only states that are higher on a per capita basis are New York (46), Hawaii (44), and the District of Columbia (98)— all Democratic-run states/districts. Compare that to Texas (9.1), Florida (13), and Georgia (10), all run by Republicans.

If the homelessness and high cost of living were not enough, California's stringent regulations are destroying businesses. The Hoover Institute reports: "California businesses are leaving the state in droves. In just 2018 and 2019—economic boom years—765 commercial facilities left California." California is undeniably unfriendly to businesses. "California is too expensive, and its taxes and regulations are too high. The Tax Foundation ranks California 48th in terms of business climate. California is also ranked 48th in terms of regulatory burdens. And California's cost of living is 50 percent higher than the national average." This year has been even more challenging for businesses, as California enforced draconian lockdowns to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 19,000 small and medium-sized businesses in California have permanently shut their doors since the lockdown. Nationally, the unemployment rate in Republican-run states stands at 6.6%, while Democrat-run states stands at 10.5%. California's unemployment rate, by contrast, was 11.4% in August. California's climate is most unfriendly to small businesses, as big businesses can afford to pay higher rents, increased wages, and increased taxes. Ironically, California's policies make it a safe-haven for big business. While tech giants and chain stores can offset higher costs in California, Mom and Pop shops are left out to dry.

While celebrities lecture us on progressive values, they live in mansions in Bel Air and the Hollywood Hills. Tech giants support Democrat candidates while skyrocketing our rent in the Bay Area. Our politicians, Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, and Adam Schiff, among many others, turn a blind eye to our deteriorating communities. They preach about tolerance and the "immorality of borders" while living behind walls in gated communities. They lecture us on climate change while jetting off on vacation getaways on private planes. Never forget that the same Hollywood elites that rant about feminism today protected Weinstein just a few years back. That's how limousine liberals operate in California— they're "woke" on every issue and vote blue across a ballot but never feel the consequences of their disastrous policies. California represents the height of liberal hypocrisy. Tent cities and needles cover the sidewalks of our cities, but you will never find a homeless person within a mile of Beverly Hills or Marin.

California is the canary in the coal mine for progressivism in this country. Every American should take note of what California, once the greatest place on earth, has become. High-taxes, stifling regulations, rent control, negligence, and corruption are destroying my home state. Americans must ask themselves: Do we want California to become a reality for the rest of the country? In short, no. Republican leadership strongly supports businesses, middle-class families, and Americans of every creed and culture. The Republican Party stands for freedom, both economic and cultural. Americans have a choice on November 3rd: vote for failed progressive policies or vote for the American dream. It's time we hold Democratic leadership accountable for their broken promises. They destroyed my state, don't let them destroy yours.

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