Last weekend some friends asked me when California would “hit a wall,” by which they meant have so many governance problems that it would have no choice but to reform. I responded, “probably not in our lifetimes, if ever.” I explained that California is more like a frog slowly being boiled to death. This is what that looks like:
Because of legacy costs, other unproductive spending and special interest influence over government codes, already residents aren’t being well served even when the state is awash in revenue. Just ask any public school parent, unemployment insurance recipient, user of the state court system, or taxpayer.
Stop hoping that a wall will force California to reform. As I explained in an essay for Stanford’s Hoover Institution, supporters of the general interest must not leave the political battlefield to special interests. You have to get in the fight, and stay there. Start here.
