Commentary

It’s common knowledge that more people are waving goodbye to California than folks who are arriving in the once Golden State. For some, California is peachy keen just as it is. It has pleasant weather, many sights to see, and an array of career opportunities.

However, it also has droughts, earthquakes, and fires to contend with. Moreover, crime and homelessness have accelerated in several cities, public education has been watered down, our physical infrastructure is eroding, and the woke virus has permeated Sacramento.

What can be done to reverse course in California and set it on a trajectory of freedom, law and order, and prosperity? It wouldn’t make much sense to list the challenges Californians face without proposing some commonsense solutions.

Solutions

First, voters need to wake up and smell the coffee. The Democrats almost have a complete stranglehold on power in Sacramento. One would hope that all of that clout would produce a solid bang for the buck statewide, but that’s not the case. Instead of resigning themselves to decline, the voters ought to elect common sense conservatives and moderates to shake things up in order to focus on critical issues that will shape our future.

Next, once power sharing is increased, work on lifting burdensome local and state regulations on businesses and the construction industries. This will incentivize economic growth, employment, and innovation. It will also provide more tax revenue to offer social services and prioritize needs of the state. Instead of turning large surpluses into growing deficits with wasteful programs, the budget could be balanced, while rainy day reserve funds are left untouched. This could also reduce inflation and trigger growth.

Third, restore cash bail for felony crimes and enforce laws on the books instead of defunding the police and rewarding criminal behavior. Elect district attorneys who will protect crime victims and punish criminals. Utilize the broken windows policy toward criminal behavior, similar to the effective law enforcement tools Bill Bratton applied when he headed up the Los Angeles and New York police departments.

Fourth, stop throwing money at the homeless crisis because it doesn’t work. More judges are needed in the mold of U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who helped remove homeless camps, including the encampment along the Santa Ana River a few years back. The homeless were infringing on the rights of bikers, hikers, and runners along the river trail.

Moreover, California should halt the policy of “safe” injection sites that enable homeless addictions and attracts more lawlessness. Tough love needs to be a homeless policy to forcefully persuade the homeless to get help and go cold turkey to beat addictions. Transitional housing must come with requirements to stay clean, seek employment, or take vocational courses.

Fifth, allow for more competition in the sphere of public education. Parents ought to have a choice between charter, home, private, or public schools regardless of zip code. Parents could also opt for education vouchers to enroll their children in a preferred school. Eliminate the testing mania in public schools and replace it with deeper learning and critical thinking. Ironically, this might actually improve state test scores in the core subjects.

Instead of handing out condoms to public schools (Grades 7-12), teach the values of delayed gratification and comprehensive health science to students. Indeed, parents should be fully consulted regarding this Democrat-led harebrained policy. Moreover, discard Marxist critical race theory, because it offers a distorted version of history that has been debunked by historians across the political spectrum.

Sixth, instead of chasing good money after bad, scrap the high-speed rail black hole boondoggle. Utilize state funds to build aqueducts, reservoirs, and other water storage facilities, improve bridges and roads, and increase firefighting resources. To enhance the electrical grid, encourage a variety of energy sources such as fossil fuels, hydroelectric power, hydrogen power, nuclear power, and solar panels. Further, anti-pollution devices have vastly cleaned up the air over the last 40 years.

Seventh, Sacramento, stop treating Californians like children. Most folks learn through trial and error how to govern themselves. They don’t need condescending politicians to regulate every aspect of their daily lives. Gov. Newsom ought to stop talking a good game regarding democracy and start allowing democracy to unfold. Stop enacting policies that only benefit a few hundred elites while punishing the middle class and small businesses. Downsize or eliminate redundant government programs so that people can keep more of their hard-earned dollars.

Eighth, the Democrat monopoly in Sacramento must stop pandering to the shrill anarchists who are fond of demeaning liberty and religion as they ignore objective truth in favor of capricious moral relativism. Democrats, start to heed the hardworking majority who pay the bills and adhere to worthy values. Listening to informed citizens might help the Dems to pivot from self-interest to the best interests of the state.

Finally, if these solutions were implemented, the odds of California reversing course and steering back to the path of lawfulness and prosperity would increase. We all have a role to play in turning California’s stubborn problems into genuine solutions.