California’s New Normal – That Should Not Be

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Pretty much everybody but the rabid few figured this out by end of day yesterday, The Veep had it right, so I think we can set the Minnesota thing aside for now.  Yesterday also marked the beginning of the “days of mourning” as it marked the first anniversary of the first day of the devastating  Southern California wildfires.  And largely that is what is happening – mourning.  Churches are holding services of remembrance, media is full of anecdotal stories of loss and lives forever altered.  And there is nothing wrong with any of that, but something is missing – the other side of that equation is strangely quiet.  They are still talking about rebuilding and community spirit, but little is actually happening.

It appears at this juncture that the utter devastation of the Palisades fire lay squarely on the shoulders of inept government.  (They are even admitting it these days.)  Even Hollywood’s empathetic charitable response was fraudulent.  Yet in all the coverage of the anniversary yesterday I found only one story of outrage and none – I repeat none – about anybody whose life has been restored in some fashion.  No good news, no stories of hope realized or effort rewarded – only vague platitudes about how they are “all in it together.”  Even the ultimate expression of optimism, Pasadena’s Rose Parade (for those that do not know SoCal geography, Pasadena is squarely in the shadow of the Eaton fire and the burn scar was evident to anyone on the parade route) spoke much of “community” but was a rain soaked, dreary affair offering consolation but little in the way of hope.

I have heard one too many old acquaintance utter something like, “This is just the price you pay for living in this wonderful place.”

California is a boom-or-bust place.  It has been throughout history.  Which meant that every bust was generally full of hope and enthusiasm for what was to come.  The boom returned because people willed it to return.  They innovated and created that next boom.  Gold…Oil…Hollywood…Defense Products…Tech… all of it underpinned by a massive agricultural output – California was the place where the next big thing was going to come from.  But this bust is different; everybody just seems resigned to it. It seems like California’s new normal is a break with that historical pattern.

The average California business and individual

This dreary, hope-limited California is not an accident – it is a creation.  It is a creation of a one-party government  determined to control even the minutiae of the life of every single Californian with regulation after regulation – leaving everyone feeling like our friend in the chair here.  No one dare make a move lest the government slap them down in some fashion.  And so, rather than rebuild from the catastrophe of a year ago, they sit and they wait on a government incapable of delivering on its promises – a government responsible for the catastrophe to begin with.

Much more than thousands of structures was lost in those fires of a year ago.  They have made plain the loss of the true spirit of California, the spirit of hope and innovation.  California is no longer the place where you go to realize your dreams; it is the place you go to watch them go up in flames.

So I join the mourning this first anniversary, but my mourning is not for the loss of property, though I have many friends that suffered it.  For them I offer hope – life can be better, and is in other parts of the country.  I mourn, rather, the loss of what made California such a wonderful place – the place that beckoned me from what was then an equally dreary Rust Belt.  I pray Californians can rise up, throw off the bonds of red tape, and kick the bums out.