CALIFORNIA – WHERE FREEDOM GOES TO DIE

Though I was born here, we were on a prop plane to Michigan just two weeks after my birth, so I don’t remember much. But we returned as I entered 6^th grade.  California seemed very free then, perhaps too free. I thought the “legalize pot” signs referred to a cooking utensil, but even then, it was pretty easy to score any drugs you wanted.  It was just before the Summer of Love and it seemed that you could live any way you desired, as long as you weren’t hurting other people. 

I enjoyed the Reagan years where it seemed that again, people could do what they liked.  Until we began to turn Blue (and how did the Dems get to choose their color; red makes more sense). 

Laws, Regulations, Infractions and More

In Communist Russia, it was known that the government kept passing laws until everyone was considered a criminal.  Thus, they could round you up at any time, if it suited their purpose.  California has begun to seem that way.  I have to wonder if the politicians are paid more for passing laws, instead of reforming the many bad ones they have on the books, and/or actually supporting the prosecution of criminals.

Try building an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) on your property. Technically, it is a desirable thing; cheaper housing for lower-income workers along with the benefit of having additional income for the home-owner.  But just try to do it.  You’ll find all kinds of ridiculous restrictions, such as that it must be so many feet from your back fence AND at least five feet from your house.  How many of us have that much space in our yard?  So, we don’t build anything, thus continuing to perpetuate the affordable housing problem. 

Same problem if you try to update your house, which is why many of us try DIY without permits.  That approach works as long as you don’t need a licensed contractor or the work is visible to neighbors who might rat you out. 

Smoking?  Not in your own house if you have an apartment or townhouse.  A common Southwest Airlines theme is to suggest that “visitors to the Bay Area refrain from smoking till they return to their original destination.”

If you wish to defend yourself from the increasing number of criminals in your town, good luck.   While you might avoid criminal penalties, you’ll spend a fortune defending yourself on the charges only to face a civil trial where you’ll lose, and probably become bankrupt.  Apparently, we’re supposed to let the bad guys win in every situation.  Or perhaps kill the home invader and bury him in your yard, assuming you have enough room and the ground isn’t that hard. 

We have thousands of gun laws on the books, but the government only appears interested in prosecuting the good guys.  Bad guys get run in by the cops, then released promptly, only to have the charges minimized or dropped altogether.  Makes you wonder how stupid we all must be to stop at the checkout counter in stores and pay for our goods.  Apparently, we’re better off robbing store-owners.  But we won’t.  Most of us still have a conscience and values.  We know better.  But why doesn’t our government?

We don’t have the freedom to protect ourselves.  We don’t enjoy the quiet enjoyment of our homes or businesses we frequent, without risking our health or our lives.  Don’t try to use gas appliances or drive a regular car in the future; your choice is going to be ripped from you. 

Would you like to have your kids go to a school that promotes values you share?  One where you know that your child can’t have an abortion, change sex, be trained on porn, socialism and other Lefty values without your consent as a parent?  Good luck with that.  Newsom will never permit real school choice in California.  That’s just too much freedom. Instead of the three R’s, your children will learn DIE, ESG and that being born White makes you a persecutor.  They will graduate having learned nothing useful and be barely functioning, but that’s what the Left wants; dependent, subservient followers.

Real Freedom

Libertarians have shortened their motto into a soundbite—“Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.)  Otherwise, do as you want.  Makes sense to me.  I knew a few people who had drug habits on the weekend, but sobered up for the Monday workday. They also didn’t drive themselves anywhere while toked up.  I suspect few people in California care what sex you think you are or who you want to sleep with.  We’d prefer not to have to watch you have sex on BART, but knock yourself out at home.

Real freedom means having the fewest possible laws on the book and the smallest possible government.  Trust and expect people to behave like decent human beings and most will rise to the occasion.  For the rest, have real consequences, which could include neighborhood shunning.  Think about how Disneyland was for many years.  I remember seeing someone drop some wrapper on the ground. Silently, a Disney employee cleaned it up and the perpetrator saw it.  They hung their head. I’m guessing they didn’t drop anything else.  Now, of course, you’re not safe from sh-t-disturbers anywhere, from Disney to an airplane and to your neighborhood.  Why?  Freedom comes inextricably wrapped up in responsibility.  Get drunk?  Take Lyft home.  Get to work late too often?  Get fired.  Make a mess and expect others to clean it up?  Expect to take the consequences.  And, of course, commit a real crime, like theft, vandalism or violence?  Go to prison.  I find it hard to read that rapists often get off with a few years, while the January 6^th protestors (not rioters) are getting 16 or more years.  Where’s the balance?  (And where’s the punishment for the BLM rioters and destroyers?)

Love freedom?  Don’t come to California, either to visit or to live.  This hellhole must go down in flames, which might give it the only chance to rise again like a phoenix.