MM#365--Election 2024--The Californication of America? No Thanks!

0:07 Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, david Kaiser. Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. And first let me apologize. Our last Mojo Minute was supposed to come out today and today's Mojo Minute was supposed to come out last week, so I flipped them around and I'm sure that's going to create all kind of confusion.

0:47 And I think part of that confusion is I'm battling a finger injury for the last three weeks and I'm kind of getting tired of it. I've had just too much running through my head. So I apologize for any confusion with the order of these Mojo Minutes, but I think after this Mojo Minute you'll understand where I am coming from. So last time we talked about the one-party state of California versus Texas and Florida, and how is that working out for the country? Now, many states throughout the history of the country have been one-party states, meaning either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party or the Federalist Party or the Whig Party.

1:33 Would all these one-party states do a pretty good job of pleasing and keeping happy their constituents? Now, we could dispute this, but for the sake of argument, here's a list of states with the longest running time of one-party governance. Now we grab this from Ballotpedia, which is a pretty good website governance. Now we grab this from Ballotpedia, which is a pretty good website. So the states with the longest running one party control are Hawaii, with the Democratic Party, for 70 years, 1954 to 2024.

2:18 This is the current longest streak. South Dakota Republican, north Dakota Republican, both for 29 years, from 1995 till now. Idaho for 28 years, from 1995 to 2023. And Utah 38 years, 1985 to 2023. To 2023. And now, historically in the past way past not modern government Georgia, texas and Vermont both held 52 consecutive elections from 1871 to 1974 in Texas and 49 consecutive elections from 1867 to 1960 in Vermont.

3:18 So it's important to note that the current political landscape has changed significantly and such long streaks now are less common. The data shows that many states that previously have had very long one party streaks have now since become more competitive and have flipped to the other party. But let's take a deep look into California, which is not in that list from Ballapedia, and for the context let's go back to 2019. This was fascinating to look back over the last five years in that state. I found this article from Charles Kessler, who's the widely respected editor of the Claremont Review of Books, which I am a partaker, and he's also a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, which sits in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, 30 miles to the east of LA.

4:06 In this article he writes this California's descent into a one-party state accelerated in 2018. Golden State Democrats picked up seven seats in the state house. They now control, or they did control, almost 87% of the state's congressional delegation 46 of the 53 representatives. Orange County, one of the original strongholds of the conservative movement, is now a liberal bastion. Democrats hold both US Senate seats and all eight elected statewide offices. Now, keep in mind this article was written in 2019.

4:47 It's been widely reported that in the California legislature, democrats won super majorities of two-thirds. This understates their control, which is more like three-fourths of each chamber 28 of 40 Senate seats with two vacancies and 61 of 80 in the Assembly. At the local level, the GOP's last readout, democrats advanced two Earlier. This decade, republicans filled almost half of California's 2,500 mayoral and city council seats and city council seats which are officially nonpartisan and hence often camouflage to candidates from an unpopular party.

5:31 This election flushed them out of that cover. Republicans now only hold 38% of those positions. The Democrats' crushing dominance allows them to use California as a progressive policy laboratory. As a result, the state has the highest welfare numbers a third of all Americans on welfare live in California. The largest contingent of illegal immigrants, a burgeoning homeless population, erroneous regulations on business and private property, mediocre public schools, high income taxes, the highest marginal rate of 13.3% and a sales tax a yawning gap between rich and poor.

6:16 Its own summer blend of expensive gasoline, bedraggled and crowded roads to punish people further for driving in a widely mocked high-speed rail boondoggle. To risk an analogy, california is today's Democrats roughly what South Carolina was to the pre-Civil War Democrats the showcase state, the vanguard of enlightened public policy offering itself for emulation. It's been a long time since the state produced political figures of the obvious national importance, such as an Earl Warren, richard Nixon and a Ronald Reagan.

6:56 Pete Wilson, the senator and governor, seems to have been the end of that line. Arnold Schwarzenegger's governorship was a box office flop. Jerry Brown, after 16 years in the gubernatorial chair, still wrestled with the mystery of Jerry Brown. Now did you catch that key nugget of political wisdom? California is to today's Democrats roughly what South Carolina was to the pre-Civil War Democrats the showcase state. I thought that was fascinating analysis. So how has that been going in the showcase state over the last five years?

7:38 Well, here's some details no-transcript. Between April 2020 and July 2022, california's population has dropped by more than a half a million people. The number of residents leaving surpassed those moving in by nearly 700,000 during this period. In 2022 alone, more than 343,000 people left California, the highest exodus of any state in the US. As of May 2024, almost 18,000 people have already migrated out of the state this year.

8:22 The top states receiving California migrants are Texas, with 105,000 California transplants over those two years, 2020 to 2021. Arizona, with 63,000 transplantsplants, and Nevada with 55,000. Other popular destinations include Washington, idaho and Utah. Why are they leaving? Well, here's some several factors High cost of living California consistently ranks among the top five most expensive states in the country. A very expensive housing market the average home price in California is wait for it $785,000, according to Zillow.

9:05 Just talked about high taxes. It has the highest state income tax at 12.3%, along with a very steep sales and gas taxes. Along with a very steep sales and gas taxes. Very slow job growth California's job growth rate has been trailing behind the national average for a number of years. 441 businesses have left California since 2018, moving their headquarters to different states. The rise of remote work has made it easier for people to leave California for more affordable locations. And, finally, the quality of life issues. Huge concerns about crime, population traffic congestion and long commutes have also contributed to the exodus.

9:57 Now, california's Governoravin newsom came into office in january of 2019. He won re-election in november of 2022, securing his second term. His that term will end on january 4th 2027, but during his tenure, newsom has faced several challenges and significant events. He was subject to a recall election in September 2021, which he survived with 59% of the vote. He led the state's response during the COVID-19 pandemic and he implemented very, very strict restrictions, becoming the first governor to impose a statewide stay-at-home order which set a precedent all throughout the country.

10:47 Newsom has also been involved in public disagreements with other politicians, notably got into a debate with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in 2023, where DeSantis smoked him on almost all accounts. Throughout his time as governor, newsom has pursued various policy initiatives, including efforts towards affordable housing and universal health care, but his governorship has been marked by one of diminishing returns. Yet he is still the darling of the Democrat Party. So after we posted our podcast last week all about the gem of our country and our founding fathers in the creation of federalism into the Constitution.

11:31 The American experiment allows for our people that are unhappy with their own state government to pick up and move. It creates a wonderful dynamic to always understand the will of the people. Now, last week's book we featured gave us a much darker color to California and perhaps what is in store if Kamala Harris, a San Francisco radical leftist who was cut from the same cloth, would happen to win this coming Tuesday. So, in fact, let's return to that book for some crucial points. Again, that book was the Stakes America at the Point of no Return by Michael Anton, and it was intentionally written for the 2020 presidential campaign, but, like I said last time, I think it has a great analysis for us today.

12:28 Let's go to the book. Ultimately, what California is, or is in the process of becoming, or wants to be, is a new kind of regime. Who really rolls is not entirely clear, which I think is the point. It's quote democratic in the fact that people vote, but they always vote for the same things, or for a series of interchangeable hacks who all believe and do the same things. Elections mean nothing in the sense that the real rollers can never lose. Voting simply provides the veneer of legitimacy. Those real rollers are the moneyed oligarchs plus the funds and companies they run, entertainment moguls always looking for opportunities to virtue signal, and agricultural barons who, before every harvest, salivate for a fresh tranche of serfs to underpay and play supporting roles.

13:26 Big leftism, concentrated in the media, the universities, nonprofits and the government, is the servant, the instrument of their power. The implicit deal, which I've called the San Francisco Compromise, is that first, the left does nothing that directly threatens oligarchic wealth or power. It can tax and spend all at once, so long as those taxes are easily bearable and, to the extent possible, legally avoidable by the Dukes. So long as the other policies that increase oligarchic wealth are never questioned, it almost doesn't matter what California tax rates are.

14:06 The Dukes can afford them. The lefties also agree to use their considerable rhetorical power to whitewash and lionize the oligarchs. The San Francisco Compromise it sounds more like a 10th century Europe state, doesn't it Remember? In Europe, if you had the corrupt monarch in the 10th century, you were essentially screwed. The church would try to give you some justice or perhaps try to root out corruption in these cases, but largely in 10th century Europe it was unsuccessful. Sounds much like California in 2024.

14:49 Let's keep going. For their part, the oligarchs take their cues from leftists on matters of passionate conviction that don't directly threaten said wealth or power. They also spend some of their lucra on lefty institutions and make work jobs. California's real rulers don't exercise their power in the manner of the oligarchs of old. They wield it indirectly by controlling not just the politicians, who can't win without their money, but especially by controlling discourse. The real decisions are made in the communication between the oligarchs and the officeholders, and that communication quote unquote is not necessarily, or even primarily, a Paulo Alto Grandee picking up the phone and calling Sacramento.

15:41 They have people for that. It's more using their complete control over all avenues of information, from grammar schools we should just change that to indoctrination schools, from indoctrination schools all the way up to the prestige and social media, to tell only one cramped, constrained story. All of this is underwritten by the massive demographic change that ensures one party rule in Sacramento and in the judiciary, plus a lopsidedly leftist congressional delegation. Even today, after decades of middle-class exodus, millions of Californians still harbor red state habits and political inclinations, but their preferences, like their votes, don't matter, because such people are overwhelmingly outnumbered.

16:36 Stay and pay, suffer and be ignored or leave. Either way, you're not voting your way out of this. That's the message haughty California hurls at dwindling red California. That is the point, isn't it? That they control the discourse, they control the language and the communication. What did Michael Anton reference? Stay and pay or suffer and be ignored. Relief. Either way, you're not voting your way out of this. That is indeed the message from haughty California as it hurls at the dwindling red California and all those outlying rural counties of California, and, frankly, it's what California says to the rest of the country.

17:27 Let's go back to the book for one final quote which crystallizes our vote for this coming Tuesday. Does Scrono California at least have an escape hatch somewhere else to go? Indeed, so many people are leaving California that the state is likely, for the first time in its history, to lose a congressional seat after the 2020 census. In fact, they did Even with the continued influx of illegal immigrants, though it's fair to ask whether other states should want any fleeing Californians, given that they have a nasty habit of pushing in their new homes the very policies that spurred them to flee their old one.

18:12 At any rate, americans don't have the luxury of fleeing a California-cated America. Where are we supposed to go? Where's the rest of us that is not in California, but are starting to suffer under its outsourced and exported horrific policies. Back to the book For the last 30 years at least, california has ridden a tectail wind that has underwritten the state's spending orgy and crazed utopianism. California has literally bet the entire existence of its new regime on that wind. Continuing Will it If and when California subsumes the United States as a whole as a new high-paying, high-profit, high-margin economic sector waiting in the wings to carry a law off the entire country?

19:09 Eh, yet Californication is what the broader radical left wants for America. It's what I believe they were one that we are one election away from getting in 2016. They think so too. They desperately want another chance in 2020. And, in fact, after the political shenanigans of the 2020 election, that's exactly what we have been under. Joe Biden went to his radical left and made that deal, and now Kamala Harris is asking for another four years of more of the same.

19:52 The evidence is in the radical left wants to make America California. The conservative right wants to make America Florida, where the free winds of liberty blow hard. Donald Trump disrupted the radical left's plan that they were so close to implementing in 2016. That they were so close to implementing in 2016. Now they, the Democrats, used COVID to get back in power in 2020 through a lot of voting and disinformation shenanigans Think of Hunter's laptop and the radical left wants to seal the deal in 2024 with their very own radical leftists.

20:35 San Francisco, kamala Harris empty pantsuit Again. Like Anton said, in the stakes our book of the day Americans don't have the luxury of fleeing a California-cated America. Where are we supposed to go, america? Where are we supposed to go? Thank God for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for leading the way out of the COVID-19 lockdowns and essentially giving voice and direction and example for all the other red state governors who did not have the courage to do so. In fact, that's what our founding fathers, the very reason why our founding fathers inserted federalism and the 10th Amendment into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to allow people the ability to move around within the states.

21:27 So in today's Mojo Minute, you can enjoy last week's podcast, which is all about the greatness of federalism and why that could be a certain common ground and why, frankly, economics and federalism combined could help us to get out of this very deep political polarization we're in now and, frankly, end this cultural revolution we've been under for the last 20 years and perhaps, perhaps, just restore liberty to the land of the free. But for today, let us pray for such an outcome on this Tuesday that the vote for Donald Trump is so big that it's too big to rig, and that there's 53 to 54 GOP members in the Senate and we have a GOP House, because, after all, we don't need or want the Californication of America.

22:34 Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.