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Single party rule in California has been an improvement. We have a functioning government. Kinda helps in a pandemic. When we got rid of our last Republican gov

Single party rule in California has been an improvement. We have a functioning government. Kinda helps in a pandemic. When we got rid of our last Republican governor we paid down our debt and California entered this dire period with a big reserve. The notion that some sort of optimal condition is reached by trashing government is just a clueless and stupid idea.

rauchp 6y ago
"Single party rule in California has been an improvement." I just moved to California so I don't have too much of a personal opinion yet but that sounds like a bold claim. From what I've seen, people over the age of 30 seem split on whether or not it's an improvement. You look at mismanaged cities like SF where there's insane homeless budgets but very little action and results and wonder if the monopoly on political power has made politicians here complacent. Then there's the whole NIMBY thing. There's a whole lot of Democrats (arguably DINO's) that are very anti-building. They run under the Democrat banner so they'll probably keep getting re-elected. Obviously a solution here is people getting involved in local party politics to primary these candidates out, but that sounds like a miracle that'll happen as soon as we get nuclear fusion power plants. The whole thing makes me wish 3rd party candidates were more viable in the US. This flip-flopping really sucks and creates a lot of chaos but political monopolies, from what I've seen, are able to hide mismanagement and bad policies really well. (Texas is probably a similar example from the other spectrum.)
- bsder 6y ago
  You are choosing really bad examples, because Republicans are even more extreme than the Democrats on them. Homelessness is an infinite money sink coupled with very problematic civil rights issues. It takes a unified effort at the federal level when states are willing to just ship their problems to other states. It also requires a unified effort at healthcare--both physical and mental. Nobody has come up with a good solution to homelessness yet--anywhere. If you have one, put it out there as lots of governments are desperate for a fix. While NIMBY is bad irrespective of party, the YIMBY movement only started gaining traction once the Republicans were purged as the NIMBY movement could COUNT on them as a unified bloc of obstruction. And, as for NIMBY, renters outnumber property owners, yet don't show up to vote. Well, then what results do you think you're going to get? As for Texas, it isn't as uniformly Republican as you think. The major cities are gaining significant Democratic representation (the Republicans just banned straight ticket voting because it destroyed them in Houston last cycle). You can also see this in the Covid-19 response--the mayors for big Texas cities almost uniformly shut down--Austin declared very early in order to avoid the disaster that would have been SXSW. Yes, the gerrymandering in Texas is horrific, and the areas outside the cities are as stupid red as it gets. However, Texas isn't as unified as you think--in spite of the human-shaped Senator known as Ted Cruz.
  - cactus2093 6y ago
    The homeless coming in from out of state turns out not to actually be that prevalent in practice. In LA, for instance, only 18% of currently homeless residents became homeless while living out of state [0]. So if you could magically get everyone from out of state off the streets, you'd still be left with 82% of the homeless population, i.e. there'd still be a big homeless problem. To a first order approximation, the majority of homeless are simply residents who lose a job or can't earn enough money, can't afford their rent, and end up on the street. Making a lot more housing available so it's not so impossible to afford is clearly an important part of the solution, which we seemingly can't do as long as progressive democrats are in charge. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/homeless-population.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/homeless-population.ht...
    - bsder 6y ago
      Homelessness is, unfortunately, not a uniform block. Some chunk are from out of state. Some chunk are mentally ill. Some chunk are addicted to drugs. Some chunk have physical ailments. Some chunk are fleeing abuse. This is what makes homelessness so intractable. Even if you fix a chunk, that's probably less that 20% of the problem. Now, you've spent a lot of money, made no visible progress on the problem, and have a bunch of people clamoring about how you wasted money.
  - manigandham 6y ago
    > "As for Texas, it isn't as uniformly Republican as you think. The major cities are gaining significant Democratic representation" This is because of Democrat-voting people leaving Democrat-led states and cities that are no longer functioning well. If their policies worked, why would they leave (for example) CA in record numbers to move to TX?
selimthegrim 6y ago
Would that be the last Republican governor who actually tried to prepare for the pandemic with ventilator stockpiles and mobile hospitals?
kortilla 6y ago
California has gotten significantly worse over the last 10 years or so for residents though, even if some debt has been paid off. Rent control, nimbyism, etc all backed by the current government have made the housing market a hellscape. Nothing has been done to address the education system and huge pension liabilities either. The issue with Democrats in charge without any meaningful opposition is that none of the Democratic radioactive stuff gets touched (excessive regulation, entitlements, etc).
- Gibbon1 6y ago
  > Rent control, nimbyism, etc all backed by the current government have made the housing market a hellscape. The question is if California is soooo bad. Why are smart, intelligent people coming here? Why does capital still invest here? Part of the answer is other places in the US are slowly failing. So many of the problems have to due with California serving as a refuge from failed economic and social policy in other states and countries.
  - newfriend 6y ago
    If California is so great, why are so many people moving away? [1] California is being propped up by the tech industry because historically the biggest tech companies are headquartered here, which caused all the talent to be clustered here, and then new tech companies were forced to be here to attract that talent. Obviously, smart, intelligent people move here because jobs are here, and capital invests here because talent is here -- but things are changing quickly and other cities are becoming tech hubs. If these other states have such "failed economic and social policies", why are so many people moving there? The worst will be when Californians move to other states and then vote for policies that ruined the place they just fled. [1] https://www.ocregister.com/2019/10/31/190122-more-people-left-california-last-year-vs-arrived-a-38-jump/ https://www.ocregister.com/2019/10/31/190122-more-people-lef...
    - Gibbon1 6y ago
      Anecdote: Friend manages a call center in California. Couple of years ago Texas using a bunch of sleazy tax incentives tried to get the center moved from California to Texas. Friend said none of the gay boys wanted to move. And parents were horrified by the idea sending their kids to public school in Texas. Move never happened as a result.
dkdk8283 6y ago
I left California long ago because it’s so polarized towards blue. I share different ideals and tend to get ostracized for them - not a community I want to be part of.
manigandham 6y ago
Has it? Can you name 10 things that have gotten better in California over the last decade?

rauchp 6y ago

"Single party rule in California has been an improvement." I just moved to California so I don't have too much of a personal opinion yet but that sounds like a bold claim. From what I've seen, people over the age of 30 seem split on whether or not it's an improvement. You look at mismanaged cities like SF where there's insane homeless budgets but very little action and results and wonder if the monopoly on political power has made politicians here complacent. Then there's the whole NIMBY thing. There's a whole lot of Democrats (arguably DINO's) that are very anti-building. They run under the Democrat banner so they'll probably keep getting re-elected. Obviously a solution here is people getting involved in local party politics to primary these candidates out, but that sounds like a miracle that'll happen as soon as we get nuclear fusion power plants. The whole thing makes me wish 3rd party candidates were more viable in the US. This flip-flopping really sucks and creates a lot of chaos but political monopolies, from what I've seen, are able to hide mismanagement and bad policies really well. (Texas is probably a similar example from the other spectrum.)

bsder 6y ago
You are choosing really bad examples, because Republicans are even more extreme than the Democrats on them. Homelessness is an infinite money sink coupled with very problematic civil rights issues. It takes a unified effort at the federal level when states are willing to just ship their problems to other states. It also requires a unified effort at healthcare--both physical and mental. Nobody has come up with a good solution to homelessness yet--anywhere. If you have one, put it out there as lots of governments are desperate for a fix. While NIMBY is bad irrespective of party, the YIMBY movement only started gaining traction once the Republicans were purged as the NIMBY movement could COUNT on them as a unified bloc of obstruction. And, as for NIMBY, renters outnumber property owners, yet don't show up to vote. Well, then what results do you think you're going to get? As for Texas, it isn't as uniformly Republican as you think. The major cities are gaining significant Democratic representation (the Republicans just banned straight ticket voting because it destroyed them in Houston last cycle). You can also see this in the Covid-19 response--the mayors for big Texas cities almost uniformly shut down--Austin declared very early in order to avoid the disaster that would have been SXSW. Yes, the gerrymandering in Texas is horrific, and the areas outside the cities are as stupid red as it gets. However, Texas isn't as unified as you think--in spite of the human-shaped Senator known as Ted Cruz.
- cactus2093 6y ago
  The homeless coming in from out of state turns out not to actually be that prevalent in practice. In LA, for instance, only 18% of currently homeless residents became homeless while living out of state [0]. So if you could magically get everyone from out of state off the streets, you'd still be left with 82% of the homeless population, i.e. there'd still be a big homeless problem. To a first order approximation, the majority of homeless are simply residents who lose a job or can't earn enough money, can't afford their rent, and end up on the street. Making a lot more housing available so it's not so impossible to afford is clearly an important part of the solution, which we seemingly can't do as long as progressive democrats are in charge. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/homeless-population.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/homeless-population.ht...
  - bsder 6y ago
    Homelessness is, unfortunately, not a uniform block. Some chunk are from out of state. Some chunk are mentally ill. Some chunk are addicted to drugs. Some chunk have physical ailments. Some chunk are fleeing abuse. This is what makes homelessness so intractable. Even if you fix a chunk, that's probably less that 20% of the problem. Now, you've spent a lot of money, made no visible progress on the problem, and have a bunch of people clamoring about how you wasted money.
- manigandham 6y ago
  > "As for Texas, it isn't as uniformly Republican as you think. The major cities are gaining significant Democratic representation" This is because of Democrat-voting people leaving Democrat-led states and cities that are no longer functioning well. If their policies worked, why would they leave (for example) CA in record numbers to move to TX?

selimthegrim 6y ago

Would that be the last Republican governor who actually tried to prepare for the pandemic with ventilator stockpiles and mobile hospitals?

kortilla 6y ago

California has gotten significantly worse over the last 10 years or so for residents though, even if some debt has been paid off. Rent control, nimbyism, etc all backed by the current government have made the housing market a hellscape. Nothing has been done to address the education system and huge pension liabilities either. The issue with Democrats in charge without any meaningful opposition is that none of the Democratic radioactive stuff gets touched (excessive regulation, entitlements, etc).

Gibbon1 6y ago
> Rent control, nimbyism, etc all backed by the current government have made the housing market a hellscape. The question is if California is soooo bad. Why are smart, intelligent people coming here? Why does capital still invest here? Part of the answer is other places in the US are slowly failing. So many of the problems have to due with California serving as a refuge from failed economic and social policy in other states and countries.
- newfriend 6y ago
  If California is so great, why are so many people moving away? [1] California is being propped up by the tech industry because historically the biggest tech companies are headquartered here, which caused all the talent to be clustered here, and then new tech companies were forced to be here to attract that talent. Obviously, smart, intelligent people move here because jobs are here, and capital invests here because talent is here -- but things are changing quickly and other cities are becoming tech hubs. If these other states have such "failed economic and social policies", why are so many people moving there? The worst will be when Californians move to other states and then vote for policies that ruined the place they just fled. [1] https://www.ocregister.com/2019/10/31/190122-more-people-left-california-last-year-vs-arrived-a-38-jump/ https://www.ocregister.com/2019/10/31/190122-more-people-lef...
  - Gibbon1 6y ago
    Anecdote: Friend manages a call center in California. Couple of years ago Texas using a bunch of sleazy tax incentives tried to get the center moved from California to Texas. Friend said none of the gay boys wanted to move. And parents were horrified by the idea sending their kids to public school in Texas. Move never happened as a result.

dkdk8283 6y ago

I left California long ago because it’s so polarized towards blue. I share different ideals and tend to get ostracized for them - not a community I want to be part of.

manigandham 6y ago

Has it? Can you name 10 things that have gotten better in California over the last decade?