The Conservative Bulwark

Tomorrow morning I'll be joining my wife in Sacramento, CA. From there we'll travel an hour and a half westward, where we'll spend the weekend in San Francisco. Needless to say, I'm very excited about getting to head out there for the first time. I've always felt that I would thoroughly enjoy living in California, especially San Francisco. Except that there's one tiny little problem...

It seems that the state is run by a bunch of morons. I mean, lets be honest here. California (noteably Haight Ashbury in San Francisco) is the birthplace for the modern liberal movement. We have them to thank for Nancy Pelosi. And Berkeley is mankind's equivalent to a putrid mosquito factory in the middle of a desolate swamp.

So, while I'm extremely giddy about my trip, I hope I don't exude "say-one-wacko-liberal-moonbat-thing-to-me-and-you-die" vibes all weekend long.

Since I'll be spending the next four days in the state with the most electoral votes, I thought I'd use it as an example of why liberal philosophies just don't work.

To put it mildly, California is experiencing an economic crisis of epic proportions. Businesses are leaving left and right, they have no money to speak of, they are in massive debt ($23.2 billion to be exact), and their budget is a nightmare. Their tax rate (which is the harbinger of doom to industry) is monstrous. Schwarzenegger just left DC, with hat in hand, trying to get the U.S. government to back all of the state's bonds. What's terrifying about this, is that they are actually thinking about doing it. So what in essence is a Californian problem, created by Californian stupidity, would become a shared disaster for the entire nation. As of today, Schwarzenegger's last proposed measures (except the one that would harness in some state worker salaries) crashed and burned at the hands of Californian voters. The Governor vowed to not ask for a bailout from DC, but instead promised to make the necessary cuts to the state budget. Many, however, didn't like the idea of cutting the budgets of critical county and local departments, such as fire and police.

Another tie in to this, is the massive "pro-environmental" movement in Cali. They've spent millions and millions of dollars in miracle technology aimed at curbing energy needs for the state. The result of this is that California imports more energy than any other state in the country. To compensate for this, they decided it would be a great idea to make up some of that money by raising taxes on nearly everything that moved. The end result of THAT is that California has the highest tax rates in the nation...and businesses are fleeing like rats from a sinking boat.

Keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, that Obama has started to take the rest of the nation down the same path. Two days ago, he announced the new gas mileage standards for the automobile industry. Car companies are going to be forced to make vehicles that the American public probably won't buy. This was done in the attempt to "curb our reliance on foreign oil". I seriously doubt, just as in California, that this is going to be the result. All of these reforms are going to be hitting the economy right about the time when the massive spending by the U.S. government starts to catch up. Our taxes are going to go up, fuel prices will go up, and we'll have all of these nice, shiny new government bureaucracies to pay for...with money we don't have. California has unwittingly (or wittingly??) doomed us all.

Examples of this catastrophe in waiting already exist. In Florida and in North Carolina, within the last couple of years, there were serious droughts. So the governments started restricting the use of water big time. When the restrictions took effect, the state governments realized that the tax revenues from water was seriously dropping. So what did they do? They raised taxes on water useage. Remember how in Jurassic Park, the character Ian Malcolm has a line stating that "life will always find a way"? Well trust me...Government will always find a way. To get your money.

The vast majority of California's problems stem from wanton spending and insane investment in unproven environmental technology. Some where along the way, they've forgotten that if you want to increase revenues, you LOWER taxes and cut wasteful spending. Businesses (those things that produce jobs and services) will thank you if you do. Another novel idea would be to not tax the bejesus out of necessary services and goods...like fuel and water.

In the end, all we can hope for is that true conservatives will step and help usher liberal democrats out of DC and thus out of power...before these asanine policies dig deeper into the country. With any hope the American Idol generation won't be paying attention to the next presidential race.

I can dream can't I?