Two Californias: Full Govt. Paychecks vs. Full Unemployment

A headline today reads, “To soften blow of state worker pay cuts, California might suspend $2,600 health deductions.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed reducing state workers’ pay by 10 percent on Thursday in his May Budget revision, as the state faces a $54 billion deficit. Almost immediately, Newsom’s administration offered to eliminate state workers’ health insurance premiums from their paychecks to ease the 10% pay cut.

The poor “non-essential” state employees who have been receiving full paychecks for the last 8 weeks for staying home are upset they are facing a 10% pay cut. Well, their labor unions are.

“Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration could offer some relief from potential pay cuts for state workers by temporarily eliminating one of the paycheck deductions workers see each month, according to an Association of California State Supervisors web post,” the Sacramento Bee reported.

This is a textbook moment for California taxpayers in Soviet-style government. Gov. Newsom has not offered any “relief” for the 4.5 million who lost their jobs due to his statewide shutdown order, but for the select government workers, he’s falling all over himself to take care of them.

Is the Golden State, once known as the land of opportunity, turning into Soviet California?

We were told in early March to “flatten the curve.” We flattened the curve, but are now told we need to find the cure for COVID-19 before we can go outside again. There is no cure for the flu or the common cold. This is hogwash and most people know it is. This strain of flu seriously impacted elderly people in nursing homes. Those are the people we should have been protecting – not closing schools, businesses, parks and beaches, and then sending COVID-19 patients to nursing homes to infect and kill the elderly.

“We’re all in this together,” nearly every public service announcement on radio and television says. But the 4.5 million and more unemployed aren’t even mentioned in Newsom’s daily press briefings, except to chastise them for wanting to go back to work, or to the beach for some fresh air.

We are not all in this together.

Newsom is looking like a caricature of the Premier of the Soviet Union as he stands before the television camera talking daily about the fourteen hoops we must jump through to reopen the state. He tells us to get use to the idea of a “new normal,” where tyrannical local government officials order the masses to wear masks in public, socially distance, and wait in long lines at grocery stores.

The unemployed masses are holding anti-lockdown protests, but are repeatedly described in the media as “selfish” for wanting to go back to work, or be able to get outside and exercise. Being forced to lockdown in your home without a source of income and depleted cupboards and refrigerators is exactly what will make desperate people protest in America. And those most supportive and even giddy for the ongoing lockdowns are receiving full paychecks or pension payments. Who is selfish? Who is self-absorbed and righteous? Certainly not the unemployed.

Gov. Newsom and tyrannical Mayors appear to be enjoying this moment of total control over the lives of Californians a little too much. They keep moving the goal posts for re-opening.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Friday that if people in his city go to the beach, they can only walk on the wet sand – no sunbathing on the warm dry sand, or beach volleyball.

The South Lake Tahoe Mayor is threatening no Memorial Day opening, no fireworks on July 4th, and maybe no Labor Day weekend.

During a briefing recently, Ventura County Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin told the media that the county would be moving people from their homes if these people were unable to self-isolate. But he apologized and retracted his statement the next day and clarified that those who could not isolate or quarantine themselves would never be forcibly removed from their homes as part of an effort to further contain the spread of the coronavirus, Fox reported.

Even as the numbers of hospitalizations dramatically decrease, some counties are doubling down and issuing unlawful mandatory mask-wearing orders, and forcing businesses to require masks.

A Representative Republic protects the rights of all citizens, not just the majority, elite or privileged, and is founded on the principle of electing individuals to represent the people. And only elections provide the opportunity for change.

Gov. Newsom appears to show no concern over the economic destruction in the state at the macro and micro level. He shows no compassion or empathy for those Californians who are losing their entire livelihoods, or the widespread unemployment.

Newsom and Garcetti both want to run for U.S. President but are doing a poor job of hiding their totalitarian preferences.

Newsom’s four-stage phased reopening of the state is only designed to condition residents to ongoing restrictions to their liberties – his “New Normal.”

Friday, the Atwater City Council voted to declare itself a ‘sanctuary city’ from the statewide lockdown order, allowing all businesses in the city to reopen, California Globe reported. “This is America,” noted Atwater Mayor Paul Creighton on Friday. “You have the choice. It’s time for the government to stop dictating another month, another three months, six months. When is it going to end? When everyone is bankrupt?”

The Mayor of Atwater understands what is happening, and took steps to prevent his city from resembling a Soviet California. Will the voters of California do the same in November?