OPINION:
Even though she has been vice president for nearly four years, given her acceptance speech, sat for one TV interview with her running mate and had one debate, voters still have questions about where Kamala Harris stands on key issues and her future governing agenda.
This is likely her handlers’ strategy, because outside of the bluest precincts, her California roots are a weakness.
Let’s call what is happening in the 31st state the “California way.” The ugly result of decades of poor public policy has empowered the ruling class while making life harder for all but the very wealthy, who can afford to shield themselves from Sacramento’s foolishness.
Suppose Ms. Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, who has governed Minnesota as if he were following the Golden State playbook, are elected. In that case, voters can expect the California way to guide a future administration.
We’ve seen the influence of bad California policies in her proposal to attack high grocery prices. Many economists suggest that the Biden-Harris administration’s runaway spending, not corporate price gouging, has predictably led to higher food prices and inflation.
But the California way is also a culprit. For example, the state’s runaway theft problem is money lost by stores that can’t cut their prices or raise wages. The voter-approved Proposition 12 on livestock production has led to pork loin prices rising 41% and one major grocery chain losing $1 on every dozen eggs sold. Add lawsuit abuse, green energy mandates and other costly policies and you have a recipe for steadily rising grocery prices.
There’s more. For those who aren’t up to date on California’s decline by design, below is a brief refresher from “The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide,” our new book from the Pacific Research Institute.
Energy crisis
Californians pay some of the country’s highest energy prices yet face a grim future of shortages. Policymakers’ obsession with a green energy revolution in which no fossil fuel is burned and no atoms are split is taking the state backward.
Choking the gig economy
In 2019, the California Legislature passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5, which in effect outlawed independent contracting in the state. Livelihoods were lost, personal finances were wrecked and entrepreneurs’ hands were tied. Not only have other states followed this wretched model, but the Biden-Harris administration wants Congress to pass a federal version of the law, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act.
Housing jam
The state’s housing shortage is neither new nor nearly solved. The problem is a refusal to let a real market develop, coupled with laws making it difficult to build. Meanwhile, housing costs are higher than in any state except Hawaii, which is made worse by expensive green mandates that add to housing prices.
Reparations
The California Reparations Task Force has produced a plan to pay at least $1.4 million each to an estimated 2 million eligible beneficiaries. This would cost $2.8 trillion, requiring the state to increase the tax burden by half and contract the economy by 11% to pay for the plan, according to the institute’s analysis.
Crime
From rampant car break-ins to out-of-control theft shutting down pharmacies and grocery stores, growing voter concerns about crime are forcing lawmakers to make an effort, maybe even a sincere one, to do something about it. They’d have no work to do, though, if they’d been better at their jobs in recent years. Through voter propositions supported by lawmakers to legislation passed and signed, California has become a haven for lawbreaking.
Ban it all.
In California, single-use plastic bags, polystyrene takeout food containers, plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles in hotels, milk and juice cartons, condiment packages and plastic straws and utensils are verboten. Lawmakers are convinced the prohibitions will save the planet and never consider the negative consequences of their actions.
Educate no one.
California public schools once had a well-deserved reputation for excellence. Now, even as funding has increased, they’ve been failing to educate their students for decades. The curriculum is too often radical and divisive and does not prepare students to meet the demands of the workforce or succeed in life.
At least a handbook is available that shows state and federal policymakers how to avoid the California way. We recommend the vice president read a copy to avoid embracing bad policies that have hurt the quality of life of millions of Californians as she prepares her agenda for a potential administration.
• Kerry Jackson and Tim Anaya are the authors of the new Pacific Research Institute book, “The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide.” Learn more about the book at www.leftcoastsurvivorsguide.com.
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