Have you ever watched a place you love slowly strangle itself with decisions that make almost no sense—and yet the same people responsible keep getting reelected by huge margins? That’s the strange, frustrating reality I’ve been living in California these past few years.
I didn’t grow up here. I moved in somewhat reluctantly because of family circumstances, and what I found was a state blessed with incredible natural beauty, world-changing innovation, and… some of the most self-defeating public policies I’ve ever seen up close. The longer I stay, the more I wonder: how does a place this wealthy keep choosing governance that produces such poor outcomes for regular people?
The Surreal Disconnect Between Promises and Results
Most people outside California assume the problems are just “big city” issues—San Francisco tents, Los Angeles traffic, high housing prices. But the dysfunction runs much deeper and much wider than that. It’s baked into the dominant political philosophy that has controlled the state for more than two decades without any meaningful opposition.
The results are visible everywhere: the nation’s highest poverty rate when adjusted for cost of living, skyrocketing insurance premiums, rolling blackouts during heat waves, rampant retail theft, a homelessness crisis that defies every attempt at solution, and a state budget that somehow manages to be simultaneously flush with tax revenue and perpetually on the edge of crisis.
And yet, election after election, the same party keeps winning every major statewide office and supermajorities in the legislature. That’s not normal politics. That’s something closer to a one-party consensus so strong it no longer needs to respond to real-world feedback.
When Stealing Becomes Practically Decriminalized
Walk into almost any major retail store in California and you’ll notice something odd right away: entire aisles of desirable products—shampoo, razors, baby formula, electronics—are locked behind thick glass cases. Employees are scarce, so you wait… and wait… and often just leave empty-handed.
Why? Because a policy decision years ago redefined theft under $950 as a misdemeanor that most district attorneys simply won’t prosecute. What sounds on paper like a compassionate reform aimed at keeping people out of jail for petty crimes has, in practice, turned into a green light for organized retail theft rings.
Small business owners tell stories of groups walking in, filling bags, and strolling out while staff can do little more than watch. The losses are so severe that many chains have simply closed locations or stopped stocking certain items altogether. Regular shoppers pay the price through higher prices and fewer choices.
“It’s not about the individual who grabs a candy bar because they’re hungry. It’s about professional crews hitting the same stores week after week knowing nothing serious will happen.”
— Frustrated small business owner in Sacramento area
In my experience, most people here privately admit the policy isn’t working. Yet the political class that put it in place—and the voters who keep them there—rarely face serious pressure to reverse course. That alone tells you something important about the current dynamics.
The Train to Nowhere That Keeps Getting More Expensive
Perhaps nothing captures the strange mix of ambition and incompetence better than the high-speed rail project. Approved by voters almost twenty years ago, it was sold as a transformative link between San Francisco and Los Angeles that would cost around $33 billion.
Today the projected cost has ballooned past $100 billion, the route has shrunk dramatically (mostly serving the Central Valley instead of the big coastal cities), and even supporters admit the time savings over existing rail would be modest at best. Yet the project refuses to die.
I once asked someone who strongly supports it why they still believe in the idea despite the endless delays and cost overruns. Their answer was revealing: “We just need trains.” Not faster travel, not cost-effectiveness, not even realistic demand—just the concept of trains. That sentiment, in my view, sums up a lot of what’s happening here.
- Original cost estimate: ~$33 billion
- Current projected cost: >$100 billion (and likely still rising)
- Original plan: San Francisco to Los Angeles in under three hours
- Current reality: partial Central Valley route with uncertain completion date
- Time savings vs. existing Amtrak route: roughly 45 minutes at best
Meanwhile, bridges crumble, roads deteriorate, and public transit in actual urban areas remains underfunded. Priorities, apparently, lie elsewhere.
Wildfires, Climate Rules, and the Nature Paradox
California faces intense wildfires almost every year now. Everyone agrees climate trends are making things worse. But very few in power want to discuss the other major factor: decades of aggressive fire suppression that left huge amounts of dry fuel on the ground.
Instead of controlled burns and active forest management, the dominant response has been to blame fossil fuels, ban natural gas hookups in new homes, push electric everything, and impose ever-stricter emissions rules. The state contributes less than one percent of global greenhouse gases, so the actual temperature impact is negligible—yet the cost to residents is very real.
It feels almost theological: the policy must be correct because it aligns with the approved worldview. Evidence that contradicts the narrative simply gets ignored or explained away.
Why the Same People Keep Winning
This is the question that keeps me up at night. The state has the highest income tax rates in the nation, some of the highest sales taxes, punishing car registration fees, among the worst housing affordability in the developed world, and still—landslide after landslide—the same governing coalition stays in power.
Several factors seem to be at play:
- Demographics have shifted decisively. Large waves of immigration combined with internal migration patterns created a reliable voting bloc that sees little alternative.
- Public-sector unions are politically dominant. They reliably turn out voters and donate heavily; in return, they receive generous pay, benefits, and pensions that crowd out other spending.
- Ideology trumps results. For many voters—especially younger, college-educated ones—supporting progressive policies is a core part of identity, not merely a pragmatic choice. Admitting failure would mean abandoning that identity.
- Media and institutions reinforce the narrative. Dissenting views are marginalized, labeled “far-right,” or simply ignored, so many people never seriously encounter an alternative explanation.
- Exit is easier than voice. Wealthy individuals and businesses can leave (and many have). Those who stay and suffer often feel trapped or simply accept the situation as normal.
The result is a feedback loop in which failure does not produce course correction—it produces more of the same medicine, just in stronger doses.
The Human Cost Behind the Statistics
Numbers can feel abstract. But the consequences touch real lives every day.
Families paying $4,000+ a month for modest apartments. Retirees watching their fixed incomes evaporate under rising taxes and insurance. Small business owners closing because they can’t compete with organized theft or endless regulations. Young people giving up on ever owning a home here and moving to places they never expected to live.
And through it all, the rhetoric stays focused on “fairness,” “equity,” and fighting “greedy corporations”—even as many of those corporations quietly pack up and leave, taking jobs and tax revenue with them.
I don’t pretend to have a magic solution. Turning around a political culture this entrenched would take a generational shift in thinking, not just one good election. But the first step is probably the hardest: admitting that intentions alone don’t produce good outcomes.
Good intentions paired with bad incentives and zero accountability produce disasters that look noble on paper. Until voters—and the politicians they choose—start judging policies by their results instead of their slogans, California will keep marching down the same path.
And that, honestly, is the most frustrating part of all.
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