Larry Elder: California voters have only themselves to blame for this man-made mess

I received this letter on the second day of the Palisades Fire, the largest of five fires burning in Southern California:

“You f—-ing moron. You stupid republcans (sic) have denied climate change — and now you want to blame democrats? You are an anti intellectual idiot. … F—k OFF.”

Here are the grim numbers: 24 dead; 12,000 structures, including homes and businesses, completely or partially burned; 300,000 people have been evacuated, with nearly 83,000 still under evacuation orders; nearly 100,000 are without power; and the two largest fires are not contained. As to the financial cost, estimates range from $50 billion to $100 billion.

I live in an area of Los Angeles that was placed under a mandatory evacuation because of the Sunset Fire. The order was lifted after one day and the homes in my area were unscathed.

As I point out in my latest book “As Goes California — My Mission to Rescue the Golden State and Save the Nation,” the “stupid Republicans” neither run California nor Los Angeles.

No Republican has held statewide office in California in 14 years. The last Republican mayor of Los Angeles left office in 2001. Of the 15 members of the Los Angeles City Council, none is a Republican. Of the five Los Angeles County Supervisors, one is a Republican. Democrats hold super-majorities in the California State Assembly and the Senate. Democrats can, and do, pass legislation without a single Republican vote.

About the fierce winds fanning the fires and preventing helicopters and fixed aircraft from flying to drop water and fire retardant, Gov. Gavin Newsom blames climate change. This echoes his response to the North Complex Fire of 2020: “I’m a little bit exhausted that we have to continue to debate this issue. This is a climate damn emergency. This is real and it’s happening. This is the perfect storm.”

So, nothing could have and should have been done to mitigate this disaster?

Did this “perfect storm” cause firefighters to run out of water? Did this “perfect storm” cause a large water reservoir near the Palisades Fire to be empty and offline to repair a tear in its cover? Did the “perfect storm” cause firefighter manpower shortages, caused in part by suspending or firing Los Angeles firefighters who refused to take the mandated COVID vaccine? Did the “perfect storm” cause LA to hire the first lesbian Los Angeles fire chief, who promptly announced a three-year plan for “diversity, equity and inclusion”?

California has a population of 40 million, but its water infrastructure is equipped for a population half this size. There has not been a major waterworks project — aqueducts, for example, to store water — in decades. In 2014, California voters passed a measure to spend $7 billion on infrastructure to capture rainwater and melting snow and to stop water from flowing uselessly into the Pacific Ocean. Virtually nothing has been built.

The forests in California have not been thinned of fallen trees and debris has not been cleared. This provides fuel to the fires. Environmentalists chased the logging industry out of the state, leaving forests thick and more combustible.

Outgoing former Gov. Jerry Brown announced a plan in 2018 to thin 500,000 forest acres a year. In 2021, Newsom claimed he did prescribed burns and thinned the forests on 90,000 acres. In fact, he had treated just 11,000 acres, a lie by factor of eight.

Even if one attributes the fires to climate change, few doubt that actions could have and should have been taken to mitigate the damage. But California lawmakers busy themselves allocating $25 million to “Trump-proof” California. Newsom signed a bill to establish a panel to recommend reparations — even though California was not a slave state. The state already has an aggressive climate change agenda, including specially formulated and expensive gas; a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers; and a ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

Despite rising crime; homes costing twice the national average; dismal urban schools; a massive budget deficit; underfunded pension liabilities estimated at $1.5 trillion; COVID lockdowns more draconian that any other state; homelessness; the nation’s highest state income tax; taxpayer-provided health care for illegal aliens in a sanctuary state; and a loss of population — voters still vote for Democrats.

California voters have only themselves to blame for this man-made mess.

Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on X @larryelder.