Issues & Insights

California Earthquakes Can’t Do As Much Damage As Progressive, Blue State Government

The strongest earthquakes to hit California in decades struck last week, leaving behind a few messes and fears of more to come. The most destructive force in the state, though, is not a quivering Earth but the lawmakers who are wrecking what was once a land of promise.

California has a tragic history with earthquakes.

The San Francisco quake of 1906 is thought to have killed at least 3,000, forced 250,000 into the streets, and leveled “more than 500 blocks in the city center.”

Eighty-three years later, the Loma Prieta quake killed 63, injured 3,800, and cut major transportation arteries in the devastated Bay Area.

The official death toll for the Northridge earthquake of 1994 was 57. Inflicting $20 billion in damage — some estimates say $50 billion — it is the costliest quake in U.S. history.

Then last week a 7.1 earthquake in Southern California, surrounded by strong foreshocks and aftershocks, brought hazy memories back into focus. Earthquakes cruelly turn lives inside out and upside down.

Nothing herein is intended to minimize the loss of life and the property damage that has been wrought by California quakes. But as cruel as they are, a steady stream of progressive public policy has the potential to inflict even deeper, and more long-term negative effects.

Here’s where California is today after two decades of progressive, Blue State governance:

The counter-argument is that the economy, the fifth-largest in the world if it stood on its own, continues to sail along. But unlike the domestic economy, which is picking up everyone, the California economy is working largely only for the rich. Middle-class families can hardly afford the homes they’re living in, leaving few dollars for other spending. The middle class is in fact disappearing, but not because members are moving into the upper economic class but because they are leaving. The poor? They’re largely stuck because they don’t have the resources the middle class have to flee.

Unlike earthquakes, which shatter lives in just a few seconds, progressive policies destroy cities and states and nations over time. Also unlike earthquakes, the disaster is quite predictable.

— Written by J. Frank Bullitt


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The Issues and Insights Editorial Board has decades of experience in journalism, commentary and public policy.

3 comments

  • As a California resident who was born and raised here, I can attest to everything that’s said in this article. The article makes no mention of the deadly diseases that are now appearing in places where the homeless congregate en masse and leave their garbage nor does it speak of the growing problem with drugs and the crimes committed by illegal aliens.

    Alas, the liberals NIMBYs live in areas far removed from the conditions they help to create and don’t see the deteriorating conditions in California as a problem. Moreover, they donate to politicians and give generously to their local police to keep the problems as far away from their neighborhoods as possible.

  • I have heard that many people are leaving California , often because of the wildfires droughts natural disasters and cost of living.Jay Leno said come visit but do not.stay…its overcrowded.It used to be the dream destination to live.
    What damage the progressives inflict on our world is real and lasting.
    You can make it great again.

  • Well California may be as bad as this article indicates, but at least soda straws are banned (in restaurants). So, while the state crumbles, we are saving the environment.

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