Southern California wildfires show just how destructive the ‘California Way’ can be

You’ll forgive Southern Californians for throwing up their hands in frustration as destructive wildfires rage across the region.

Watching their homes burn and loved ones evacuated, California’s ruling class hasn’t exactly channeled their inner-Rudy Giuliani on 9/11.

This was exemplified by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ cringeworthy non-response to a Sky News reporter aggressively questioning why she went to Africa when the city faced a high fire risk.

Really?  You have nothing to say.

Watching the Mayor refuse to say anything with an expressionless gaze didn’t give those evacuated much hope that local and state government will deliver a competent fire response.

“When you look at the people in charge, Gavin Newsom flew in to do these sort of performance art stunts,” Victor Davis Hanson said of the California governor’s public fire response.

This included giving a word salad to NBC’s “Meet the Press” in response to a question about whether he was passing the buck to Bass in ordering an investigation into lack of water supply in the first hours following the fire’s breakout. 

He told CNN’s Anderson Cooper of the water infrastructure failures – “look, the local folks are going to have to figure that out.”

Newsom at times has seemed more interested in shoring up his nascent 2028 presidential campaign than leading.

How else does one explain his bemoaning “the hurricane force winds of mis- and disinformation” to President Biden after finally getting him on the line after a cringeworthy exchange dodging an angry constituent?  (“What are you going to do?” she challenged him.)

On Saturday, with fires growing in Tarzana, he went on the “Pod Save America” podcast hosted by the Obama bros to criticize President Trump and had his team set up a campaign website to combat factually correct criticism of his administration’s wildfire budget priorities.

In many ways, what we’re seeing embodies what Newsom calls “the California Way” – the litany of state policies and regulations that make it more difficult and expensive to live here.

The California Way didn’t start the fires.  But years of reckless policies and misplaced priorities advanced by Newsom, Bass and their allies have made containing the fires harder – and will make recovery and rebuilding more difficult.

It’s an agenda that brings us inadequate water infrastructure, improperly maintained forestland, bureaucratic red tape, investments in lesser priorities, and weakened public safety laws.  

To be fair, Newsom has taken some good steps, such as issuing an executive order waving CEQA review and Coastal Commission permits for rebuilding.

But Southern Californians can’t help but think that he only acted decisively because his supporters in the bluest precincts were victimized.  By comparison, no such relief was granted for Camp Fire victims.  All they got were lectures about climate change. 

The California Way is as much about attitude as it is policy – Newsom and state bureaucrats know better than Californians how they should live their lives.  

Those living in wildfire-prone areas from Paradise to Pacific Palisades aren’t living as government thinks they should.  After all, most live in single-family homes with big yards, cook with gas appliances, drive SUVs long distances, demand their kids are offered Algebra 1 in the eighth grade, and support strengthened retail theft laws – all in opposition to Newsom’s wishes.

If they lived the California Way as he envisions it, they’d be doing their part for equity and climate change by living in a small apartment in a dense high-rise, eating a vegan diet, riding their bikes or taking the bus, and giving up their daughter’s spot at UCLA in the name of fighting racism.

In many ways, the fire victims caused their own disaster by living a freedom-filled life.

How dare Californians criticize Newsom, he argues on his “misinformation”-busting campaign, when he has promoted many big-government spending initiatives on wildfires and water.

But those now without a home correctly ask if he can point to any successful outcomes.  The answer is, tragically, no.

But that’s the California Way – vibes and tweets are more important than delivering the essential services hard-working taxpayers expect.  

Only when competence and reasonableness rule the day in policymaking will anything change.

Tim Anaya is the Pacific Research Institute’s vice president of marketing and communications and co-author of “The California Left Coast Survivor’s Guide.”