Is California Listing Toward Failed State Status?
Democrats clearly are trying to turn California into a third world country – and they are succeeding
By Katy Grimes, July 3, 2023 2:30 am
California used to be known for its stunning weather, Hollywood movies and stars, Silicon Valley – home to the high tech industry, and for the agricultural products grown and raised for the state, country, as well as the rest of the world.
Today, California is known for its crazy Left wing politics, violent crime, bumper-to-bumper traffic, its homeless epidemic, out-of-control spending, record budgets, and the $1+ trillion unfunded pension obligation to state retirees.
Today’s headlines tell the rest of the story:
California’s firefighter union is poised to get a rare perk: Guaranteed raises, forever
Governor Newsom’s Budget Deficit Has Climbed To $31.5 Billion
State workers protest at California state Capitol to demand pay raises amid SEIU bargaining
California reparations report urges action on housing discrimination and overpolicing
Reparations task force gives recommendations on how California can atone for slavery
Bay Area transit agencies say $5.1 billion state funding deal is not enough
Is the California EDD Pulling a Pandemic Scam?
California taxpayers pony up for transit systems they’ll never use
California bacon law takes effect
Thousands of SoCal hotel workers go on strike
More migrants from Texas arrive in Los Angeles over 4th of July weekend
Union members getting guaranteed raises forever; a record budget deficit; reparation payments to black Californians; SEIU demanding more raises… it never ends.
With headlines like these, it is not an intellectual challenge to conclude that California is headed straight for breakdown as a failed state.
A state is ordinarily considered “failed” when it is unable to justly enforce laws. California is certainly unable to enforce important but basic quality of life laws and is suffering under an horrific crime spike exploding across the state thanks to Democrats who are totally in control of state politics.
Here’s how they have achieved this:
Proposition 47, passed by misinformed voters in 2014, and flagrantly titled “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act” by then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris. Prop. 47 reduced a host of felonies to misdemeanors, including drug crimes, date rape, and all thefts under $950, even for repeat offenders who steal every day.
Proposition 47 also decriminalized drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor, removed law enforcement’s ability to make an arrest in most circumstances, as well as removed judges’ ability to order drug rehabilitation programs rather than incarceration.
Proposition 57 in 2016 reduced prison sentences, and Assembly Bill 109, Gov. Jerry Brown’s “prison realignment” scheme, shifted detainees from state prisons to local jails, overwhelming county jails.
Despite overwhelming evidence of rampant crime throughout the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom has continually praised Proposition 47, Proposition 57 and AB 109, claiming they had helped reduce crime in the state – rather than doubling down on the source of these crimes.
“Proposition 47 didn’t just make theft under $950 a misdemeanor, but also got rid of what we called “priorability”; [it] interfered with the police’s ability to arrest someone for misdemeanor shoplifting, unless they actually witnessed it,” said Los Angeles County Assistant District Attorney Michele Hanisee. “Then of course, Proposition 57 allowed early release of not only nonviolent felons, but also sex offenders and three strikers. If you add to that some of the current policies we are seeing from the district attorneys and the courts, such as zero bail and district attorneys who won’t prosecute misdemeanors, it creates a perfect storm and there is just no consequence for crime.”
Propositions 47 and 57 were qualified for the statewide ballot and funded by myriad leftist organizations, and supported by the state’s Democrats.
“Left-progressive criminal justice and most labor union interests in the state, including the ACLU, the Open Society Policy Center (a Soros network company), and the California Labor Federation supported the measure,” Influence Watch reported.
The sketchy Yes on Prop. 47, Californians for Safe Neighborhoods and Schools committee, which raised and contributed more than $10 million to the Prop. 47 campaign, has disappeared and the link from Ballotpedia is no longer any good.
The top five donors to Proposition 57 were:
Again, George Soros was influencing California politics, together with Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire Tom Steyer, and then-Governor Jerry Brown.
If they wanted to turn California into a third world country, they are succeeding.
Other factors contributing to failed states include uprisings, high crime rates, byzantine bureaucratic processes, corruption, judicial incompetence and/or politicking, and military or government policing agencies interference in politics. (Now, re-read the above headlines)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom claims that California is a Nation-State:
“Speaking on MSNBC, Governor Gavin Newsom said that he would use the bulk purchasing power of California ‘as a nation-state’ to acquire the hospital supplies that the federal government has failed to provide. If all goes according to plan, Newsom said, California might even ‘export some of those supplies to states in need.’”
“Nation-state.” “Export.”
Bloomberg News was referring to Newsom’s ethically dubious and hurried $1 Billion deal with China’s BYD (a bus company) for masks in the early days of the COVID pandemic and state lockdowns, as the Globe reported.
In April 2020 Henry Brady, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley addressed Newsom’s claims of “Nation-State” status. Brady said “it is useful to introduce the word ‘country’ first and to then consider the words ‘state’ and ‘nation.’” He explains:
Is California a country? No. Countries have sovereignty over their borders, control over the military and their external affairs, the power to make the fundamental laws of the land, and ultimate control over the use of force within their borders.
Is California a state? Yes. California is one of the 50 states of the United States.
Is California a nation? It’s complicated. A nation is a community of people with a common language, territory, history, ethnicity or culture.
Is California a nation-state? It’s very complicated. It is certainly a state and its people may comprise a nation… “Nation-state” often means a nation that comprises an independent state.
There is nothing wrong with using this term in a colloquial fashion, especially if you are also willing to say that Texas is a nation-state and perhaps even New York or Pennsylvania.
Brady concludes that California could be considered a nation-state.
Therefore, let us summarize how and why this “nation-state” is failing, under the reign of Gavin Newsom.
“Nation-states fail because they are convulsed by internal violence and can no longer deliver positive political goods to their inhabitants. Their governments lose legitimacy, and the very nature of the particular nation-state itself becomes illegitimate in the eyes and in the hearts of a growing plurality of its citizens,” said Robert Rotberg in Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States: Causes and Indicators.
With so many Californians departing the near-perfect weather and stunning beauty and prosperity of the once Golden State, it is because of violence and crime, and plenty of other issues.
Here are just a few of the serious, quality of life issues in California under Gov. Gavin Newsom:
- flooding
- drought
- Wildfires and “wildfire season”
- 4-seasons of electricity shortages and rolling blackouts
- Gigantic budget deficit swing of $100 Billion from “surplus” in just one year
- Declining California population and disappearing wealth: the state’s population dropped by more than 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022. California’s net loss totals was more than 332,000 residents – more than any other state – taking $29.1 billion with them to other states.
- Highest property crime
- Homeless population living on the streets is multiplying
- More than $23 billion spent on homelessness in the state
- Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank
- Mass tech industry layoffs
- The highest poverty rate of any state in the country
- State-created water shortage
- violent crime spike
- Growing drug addicted homeless population
- Taxpayer funded abortion sanctuary state
- indoctrination center public schools
- Unconstitutional gun control
- Sanctuary State
- Abortion Sanctuary State
- Assembly Bill 5 which destroyed the state’s gig economy and independent contractors
- Californians are paying the highest gas prices in the entire nation
- Gov. Gavin Newsom defied the state’s voters within 6 weeks of being sworn in January 2019 when he announced in March 2019 he was granting reprieves for all death penalty murderers on California’s death row, calling the death penalty “ineffective, irreversible and immoral.”
- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 145 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) which lowers the penalties for adults who have sex with same-sex minors – this means the new law allows a 24 year old to have sex with a 14 year old and escape a felony conviction and requirement to be a registered sex offender.
As Gavin Newsom pretends he’s not going to run for U.S. President, let’s reflect on his character and real record.
Says the elite white guy educated in private schools, enjoys extravagant vacations, has billionaire benefactors, is now worth $10 million in assets and has $2.5 million in annual income… in public office since 1995. https://t.co/bTkjizCwPW
— Katy Grimes (@KATYSaccitizen) June 30, 2023
This is the governor who created California’s new Department of Hate for snitches, tattletales and grievance hustlers. Gov. Newsom formed the State Reparations Commission to pay black Californians who never were slaves, money from taxpayers who never enslaved anyone, in a state that never was a slave state and openly supported the Union North.
Historical ignorance is no excuse.
We cannot forget how Gavin Newsom praised President Biden’s backing of failed Silicon Valley Bank customer deposits, but forgets to mention he was a client, as was his wife, who received funding from a bank executive John China, SVB Executive of Capital, who also sits on the board of Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s California Partners Project.
In just his first five months in office (2019), Gov. Newsom increased the state budget $5 billion – even with a tax revenue windfall. He could have cut the state budget and looked like a hero…
But Newsom owns it now. His current budget is over $300 billion with a $32 billion deficit.
Gov. Newsom has grown homelessness: California’s burgeoning homeless population, despite spending nearly $23 Billion ($23,000,000,000) on California’s homeless housing, homelessness continues to grow in California. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, “nationally, California has topped the list for the state with the largest homeless population for more than a decade. As of 2022, 30% of all people in the United States experiencing homelessness resided in California, including half of all unsheltered people (115,491 in California; 233,832 in the US).”
With Newsom as Governor, California loses nearly 700,000 residents since 2020.
As for issues that matter to Californias, business deregulation, honoring the independent contractor, re-shoring of industry, energy independence, securing the border, war on drug cartels, restoring law and order in the state, restoring water rights, plentiful water storage, parental rights (ie. ending the assault on the family), ending censorship, election integrity, back to basics school curriculum, honoring and restoring the second amendment, property rights – Gov. Newsom has only undermined these very important issues, while destroying the quality of life in California.
Do not forget Democrats in the Capitol in 2021tried to pass Senate Bill 300, to reduce the sentence for individuals convicted of the most serious and heinous murders. Why?
It’s not a stretch to see that under the Democrat one-party rule, California is failing – and failing everyone except the Newsom elites.
“Listing” is a nautical term to describe when a vessel takes on water and tilts to one side.
- Gov. Newsom’s One-Sided Rivalry With President-Elect Trump - December 2, 2024
- It’s Time to Take Back the People’s Power – in California and DC - December 2, 2024
- On the Naughty List Again: California Has Third-Worst Tax Climate in the U.S. - November 29, 2024
Bravo Katy! You hit the nail on the head! Telling it like it is! I will be sending a copy to my leftist cousin.
Agree, John —- this is ANOTHER great Katy article, that can be shared with your sane-people circle and your insane-people circle alike. Katy Grimes is the BEST.
IMO, the major contributor is the loss of truthful information be it newspapers or media. No one knows what is going on except the people who appear to run it. There are no realistic checks and balances on budget matters. What other state has a governor who drops a billion dollars on covid masks, and no one asks for an accounting? Obviously with ballot harvesting, Soros and Zuckerberg, and misleading ballot titles, what is the point of voting? It is meaningless. State elections are so hopelessly compromised, most don’t even bother to vote anymore. It is just not worth the mental bewilderment.
One wonders how MUCH of that $1B BYD (“Build Your Dreams” – seriously, that’s the entity’s name) PPE contract Newsom skimmed off the top in a kickback to himself and his “First Partner” (in crime)…..
Did he get the standard “10% for the big guy” rate or was he able to negotiate a bigger slice of the non-compete contract price???
With you, Chuckiechan. Unfortunately, it’s such a conflict to point out obvious election cheating at the same time we want to encourage and prod all sensible Californians to always vote, in great numbers, until the bitter end.
One “tell” of the cheating, however, is that our officials REFUSE to return to sane election rules; i.e., make it ONE DAY only, end universal vote-by-mail, require voter I.D., etc. In fact, as we speak, there is a bill in the legislature (SB 846) where the usual suspects want to EXPAND so-called “motor voter” and thus EXPAND vote-by-mail. Gotta have more blank ballots on the market to cheat with, dontcha know!
https://ktla.com/news/california/california-bill-aims-to-increase-voter-registration-as-election-season-moves-closer/
(Contact your reps, by the way: No on SB 846)
This is only one of many items that tells us the Dem/Marxists are clearly not interested in clean elections. Their response will be “we have to increase access to voting!” Which is obviously B.S. —– the recent L.A. City Council Nury Martinez open seat election had only a 10% turnout. 10%! So much for helping ease of access! Thus another problem in addition to the cheat is “engineered low voter turnout.” Frustrate people endlessly so they feel hopeless that their vote matters. Either that or run in a district that is packed with mostly light industrial businesses and/or illegal aliens. You know, like former Sen Kevin Deleon did for all those years. Crooks.
A “P.S.” on likely election cheating methods used by the Dem/Marxists for those who are following this important issue:
“A Line of Defense Against Mail-in Ballot Fraud” – Jay Valentine – July 4, 2023
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/07/a_line_of_defense_against_mailin_ballot_fraud.html
Katy Grimes expertly provided evidence that the once great state of California is failing everyone except for the deep-state WEF globalist regime of Gavin Newsom and legislative Democrats with their one-party rule.
Boy do I agree! I’ve lived in CA all my life and I’m ashamed of what has happened to a once great State.
With regards to the $1billion sweetheart deal that Newsom made with BYD in spring 2020. BYD is an electric vehicle manufacturer – not just buses, but cars, too. A few months later Newsom signs an executive order that by 2035 all new vehicles sold in California will be electric vehicles.
You’re so right Concernicus Jones — what a good point. In fact (as you may already know), not THAT long ago City of L.A. spent MILLIONS and MILLIONS on BYD electric buses. They were quickly pulled from the road, however, and sat idle in a city yard because they had an irritating problem of catching fire when they were driven uphill. And were found to have other problems. But the City didn’t demand their money back and tear up the contract —- as I recall they then contracted for MORE electric buses. Hmmm
As long as the criminal Governor Newsome is in power California is indeed a failed state under any definition of the words!! Things will improve as soon as soon as he’s deposed along with a whole bunch of his Marxist comrades…
California is well on its way and picking up momentum and a few other states are not far behind them.
Even Governor Newsom is trying to escape to the White House. He ruined his lands and we will be damned if we will allow him to ruin ours.
“Ruined his lands” ????
Try FOULED HIS NEST….
And took the rest of us down the tubes, while he personally enriched himself…. it’s the Democrat way…. Aunt Nancy taught him well….
California IS a failed state! A one party state is a failed state. Our politicians do NOT listen to the people and make laws that make no sense or go against most of the people to appease a small portion of the constituents. Laws that protect criminals and holds no one accountable. This is why this state is a failed state. We have to many politicians that are in for the money not for the people! Basically bought and paid for career politicians!
“…despite spending nearly $23 Billion ($23,000,000,000) on California’s homeless housing, homelessness continues to grow …”
Shouldn’t that start off: “due to”?
Gavin Newsom met with Democrats in Boise, Idaho this weekend to cook up ways to turn the Gem State into California. Meanwhile many Californians have fled to Idaho to escape Newsom’s tyranny to escape covid tyranny, high taxes, high crime rates, record homelessness, a record number of illegal aliens, eroding parental rights, attacks on gun ownership, etc.
Trump had 55,000 show up in South Carolina while Newsom had 15 show up in Idaho.
A failed state status AKA A Leftist Hellhole!
This is what Marxists dreams are made of.
Again thanks to the California Globe we get the unvarnished truth.
It is funny how the local newspapers and nightly news only report on cars being run on the sun, or will the fog ruin your chances of seeing the firework show, or how about SF public works department are going after 80 year olds for not hiding their garbage bins from public view.
Thank you Katy and Happy 4th of July. May freedom ring!
Wow, that is so hypocritical because the counties would not send garbage trucks to pick up the trash when the let the homeless set up camp near the freeways .
The absurdity of San Francisco priorities are astounding! Nevermind the drugged out zombies that litter the streets!
Here is the story link :
https://abc7news.com/sf-bernal-heights-garbage-bin-recycling-bins-san-francisco-department-of-public-works-notice/13457829/