My mom’s family worked in the mines in Crested Butte, Colorado in the early 1900s. Hard working people. Salt of the earth. Came here legally. Good Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Yugoslavia.
Oh yes, quite a combination.
But their life was tough, and they heard about “opportunity” in a state called California.
So, they pulled up stakes and moved to San Diego in 1939. And life was good.
Until it wasn’t.
My namesake grandfather, John, had a little convenience store in Mission Beach. It was Christmas Eve, 1940, and he headed home in the evening with the day’s sales.
He was followed.
Then, in his own home, my grandfather confronted two young men. They had a gun. And they told him if he didn’t give them the money, they would take my little aunt as hostage.
My grandfather struggled for the gun. And they shot him to death in front of the entire family.
On Christmas Eve.
I only mention this, because that was our family’s beginning as California residents.
“But,” as Paul Harvey would have said, “here’s the rest of the story…”
It is one of redemption.
My five aunts and uncles rallied around my grandmother, Kate, and put down even more solid roots into our state. Over the years, they became doctors and professors and Red Cross members and one of the first women to create the WASPs, Women Airforce Service Pilots.
And then, as good Catholics, they single-handedly populated California!
I spent much of my young life, off and on, in San Diego… and then Torrance, and eventually up the hill in Palos Verdes. I would join my many cousins going to Disneyland in the ‘50s and then the Sunset Strip in the ‘60s. It was a wonderful time.
A uniquely California time.
The Opportunity State
So much energy. So much hope. So much incredible promise in the Golden State. You could do anything, be anything…. California was filled with opportunities. And those opportunities were the vital driving force of its success.
And over the years, I would return…. while I lived all over the country. Eventually starting a family and settling down.
My parents moved back… to Santa Barbara in the late ‘70s, and our family had many a wonderful time visiting and reminiscing. California was still the dream it always was.
Then in 1995, after anchoring the news in Tampa Bay, Florida and having young children… the yearning began again. During that time, Florida was still pretty wild west. Lots of weird stuff I would have to tell people each night on the news, in the state whose slogan was “The Rules are Different Here.” Indeed, they were then. Not as much now. It has reformed.
But my wife and I wanted to find a small, safe community to raise our family. Not a big city.
God provided an answer. A young Liz Murdoch (yes, Rupert’s daughter), owned some TV stations on the Central Coast of California. And she saw my tape with my agent in New York City. She asked if I was interested in taking a look at the Central Coast and TV station KSBY.
Why not? We knew the area intimately.
And so, we moved here. Perhaps a professional downside… but a lifestyle upside. Family was all that mattered to my wife and me. And a safe and healthy place to raise our children.
They are all still here, with their own families. They ventured out. As they should. Then came back. They knew a good thing once they saw what else was out there.
That was then.
But this is now.
Corroding California Culture
What’s happened during those 30 plus years since we returned to my beloved California?
Well, what’s happened is… it’s turned itself upside down from the Golden State, to the Tarnished State. And it was by design.
The prosperity of living in a state with ample natural resources, keen minds creating incredible technology, and a lifestyle based on movement…. the automobile (does anyone remember the early SoCal car movement and the freedom of getting from A to B in style? Top down. Engine revving. Drive-in burger joints. Drive-in movies. Epic freedom.)
Sure, the advent of this uniquely California culture created some issues. Smog in the LA basin. It’s mostly gone now. Traffic. Long commutes. Still here. The price we pay for paradise.
But … we were independent of most government control. We were still free. We were “America” personified. Everyone, everywhere… wanted to be a “Californian.”
Then the Left began taking over. And little by little…. started to erode our great state and the use of its abundant resources.
The environmental movement was the start of it. Stop the fossil fuels. Hands off the forests. Let the waters flow into the sea.
Shut down the nuclear plants. Shut down the refineries. Shut down the drilling.
Cover the land with windmills and solar panels and…. oh, and build a high-speed rail along the length of the state. Yup, that’ll do it.
Then become a “welcoming” (sanctuary) state for people who wanted to be “Californians,” but didn’t want to take the time to do it legally. They Flooded the schools, the hospitals, the housing…. Many of them good people. Many not.
But all at a price that we pay for.
Taxes. Regulations. Waste. Corruption. Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
And, well, here we are.
There’s Always Hope
Pollution? The left has actually “polluted” our state with its ideology, and practiced their “feel-good failure” at all of our expense. It was stealth. Silent. Slowly building. So very sad.
And we allowed it to happen. Perhaps even voted for it. Maybe we thought we were being compassionate and good stewards and….
Here’s what I do know. This is our last chance. I fear we may have gone over the cliff already, and may not be able to recover. But I’m not someone with a doomsday complex.
Just a reality one.
I believe the pain has reached a point where the light bulb has been turned on (when we have power!) and we are now clearly seeing the boogeyman in the dark corner.
Leftism. Progressivism. Socialism. Even communism.
Is this really what we want? I hope not, although “hope” is not a strategy.
Voting is. It’s all we have left. So, vote like our California dream depends on it.
Because it does. My grandparents paid for it.
Dearly.
******
Ballots are out.
If you plan to vote early, start with California Current’s proposition guide—written from the only point of view that actually pays the bill: the overworked, under-appreciated California taxpayer.
We don’t hand you a cheat sheet and walk away. Every recommendation is backed by clear headed research. Click the link, read the case, then mark your ballot with your eyes open.
Please consider sharing this easy-to-use guide with your neighbors.
NO on 1. The Con Job
NO on 2. Supersizing California’s Slush Fund
NO on 3. The Forever Tax
NO on 4. Your Money, Their Campaigns
NO on 5. Recall Revenge
NO on 37. Robin Hood in Reverse
NO on 38. Pork Barrel Science
YES on 39. Trust, but Verify
NO on 40. Tax Billionaires Today, Tax Everybody Tomorrow
YES on 41. Sergey’s Silver Bullets
YES on 42. Sergey’s Silver Bullets
YES on 43. Stop Getting Steamrolled by Special Taxes
NO on 44. Unions to Draw More Blood
YES on 45. Pondering Prop 45
Note: Props 41 and 42 share one article. The Prop 44 article publication pending.
As Ron Unz has pointed out, Californian voters passed the SOS (Save Our State) initiative in 1994 to stem the tide of infinity illegal Mexicans. The court struck it down.
We always dream, always hope and ALWAYS VOTE. Unfortunately so do all of the “non-Californians” you speak of. Not to mention the brain dead children that our California schools and universities turn out. While I agree with you that we need to vote these bums out, we are also making contingency plans with our children to leave the state if things deteriorate much further. For the same reason you and your wife decided to leave Florida. It’s not worth the risk to raise their children in an environment that puts them at such great risk.
I can’t emphasize enough, PLEASE get out and VOTE! We don’t want to lose the place we grew up in and raised our children in, and have called home for 60+ years.