The Resignation Of The Average Californian

Life finds me in Southern California as I write.  Been a here a couple of days now with a couple more to go and the place is as miserable as it was when I left, maybe even a bit more so.  Traffic’s worse, homelessness is still everywhere, but there is one thing that is notably different.

I wish I could say the difference is hope concerning the possibility of Steve Hilton winning the gubernatorial race, but I am afraid it is just the opposite.  The news, of course, remains awful.  What were once vibrant areas are now slums.  Even the movie studios are threatening to leave.  And Newsom, desperate to be president, tries to spread the misery.  And that is, I think where the problems begin.

Most California Republicans began to lose heart back when they recalled Gray Davis and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Governator turned out to be a total wimp.  That was pretty much their last hurrah in terms of electoral success.  Hope began to show its head again this cycle in the form of Spencer Pratt and Steve Hilton, but I think that when, a week after the election, enough votes appeared to knock Pratt out of the mayoral contest, everybody just gave up altogether.

In the days I have been here I have had many conversations with old friends, smart friends, conservative friends, all of whom tell me they just don’t pay attention to politics anymore.  When you point out some completely unacceptable situation they just shrug and say, “What are you going to do?”  You recount the story of various agencies piling on a company that suffered a fire that other government agencies refused to extinguish, and they say, “I can’t smell it.”  It seems as though, even with Hilton making it through the jungle primary, there is no hope.  Everyone seems to know the fix is in and is either looking for the door or if circumstances do not permit their departure, they are putting their heads in the sand and pretending it is not as bad as it actually is.

Any sign of life is simply gone leaving one to wonder if there will ever be an opportunity for, or the possibility of, resuscitation.  There is little talk of ideology or principle anymore – only coping and survival and staying very close to home so you don’t see the problems just down the road.  People are simply resigned to their fate in California.

Between the raft of electoral failures and the unrelenting bad news, which the local outlets insist on presenting as good news, to the ever so obvious corruption both in election practice and expenditure of public money, people have simply given up.  The once Golden State is no longer simply dulled – the gold is actually missing – likely in the pocket of some very corrupt politician of the other party.

The state is so large that its problems will inevitably become the nation’s.  The time has come to prepare for that eventuality.  I don’t think it can be stopped at the California border anymore.

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