For nearly 180 years, going back to the gold rush, California has been an iconic destination for people everywhere. The idea of the best and the brightest has become synonymous with the Golden State as people flock there to try out their talents and skills. California's output is literally seen and felt by nearly every person on Earth, more than any state or country in the world. From music to movies to devices to software to its farm products and wine, California touches everyone.
And, the numbers reflect this fact. In 2024, California’s private sector propelled the state to become the fifth largest economy in the world under nominal GDP terms, behind only the United States, China, Germany, and Japan. With a population of less than 40 million, California's economy is larger than that of the United Kingdom and France, each with about 69 million people, and India (the world's most populous country). The Midas Touch of California's creators, technologists, entrepreneurs, and hard-working citizens has always worked.
But California's political leadership—city, state, local, and federal—represents the worst the state has to offer. The state's brilliant citizens either don't pay much attention to whom they choose or are deliberately naive. The state’s record of governance is poor and would rate an F.
Californians earn more than the U.S. median, about $80,000, with a median income of $91,905. However, they suffer extraordinarily high costs of living, including the highest income and property taxes in the nation. With all the money that the state treasury gets, California still has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, with nearly 12% of its population classified as poor. Homeownership rates are lower than the U.S. median, and California has a significant homelessness problem, the largest of any state.
Even as small businesses shuttered, Governor Newsom’s crowd took care of their own. The French Laundry, the Michelin-starred spot where Newsom dined maskless with lobbyists while ordering lockdowns, raked in $2.4 million in COVID relief—nearly 17 times more than similar-sized Bay Area restaurants. Rules for thee, but not for me—California leadership in a nutshell.
In 2023, California's violent crime rate increased to 503 crimes per 100,000 residents, compared to 374 for the United States. For a coastal state that has rich natural resources and breathtaking beauty, California residents are always water-deprived. Poor forestry management has been partly responsible for the spread of the recent Los Angeles fires. As this article goes to press, a new fire called Hughes has already consumed 10,000 acres and is raging across the northwestern areas of the city.
For a state that offers the world Hollywood, Apple, Meta, Google, Intel, and Cisco, its citizens routinely send deeply flawed leaders like Kamala Harris to the United States Senate and Nancy Pelosi to the House.
As November's elections show, Harris was so soundly rejected by Americans that President Trump scored an electoral victory unseen in 40 years. Even Democrats in battleground states - Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada - who powered former President Biden's victory in 2020 switched their votes to Trump. Harris, running as the nation's first Black woman presidential candidate (after running for Senate in California as that state's first South Asian politician), lost significant support among Hispanics, Blacks, and young voters. The rout was so substantial that California voters are no longer able to bask in the notion that they are somehow intellectually or morally superior to the rest of the country.
Consider how much damage Nancy Pelosi has done in Washington while personally profiteering from her connections. Pelosi has been a member of the U.S. Congress since 1987, representing California's 11th congressional district, and reported her net worth in the range of $160,000 to $3.5 million at the time. Her congressional salary over the years has averaged about $200,000, peaking at $223,500 as House Speaker. Yet, in just 36 years, her net worth skyrocketed to over $250 million.
Supporters say that much of Nancy's wealth is a result of investments made by her husband, Paul. Perhaps, but Nancy was married to Paul in 1963. For decades, Paul did not strike it rich in their investments. So what changed?
Pelosi’s leadership has had deeply divisive consequences for America. When Pelosi championed Obamacare, she famously said of the most significant legislative change since LBJ's New Deal initiative: "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy." Using a cudgel, she drove the bill to Obama's desk, offering carrots to Americans first (such as subsidies and universal benefits) and delaying taxes until later. More than 14 years after Obamacare became law, enrollees face rising premiums, unforgivable deductibles, and limited provider networks. A family of four making about $100,000 in income, even with subsidies, may have to pay upwards of $18,000 a year before collecting a penny from the so-called marketplace insurers. There's something morally wrong with this model.
For someone who has constantly maligned and ridiculed President Trump for his "authoritarian and undemocratic values," Pelosi supported the narrative that Biden was mentally fit, championed his victory in the Democratic primaries last year, and then threatened the use of the 25th Amendment to stop him from running.
During the campaign for the United States seat last fall, Adam Schiff repeatedly misled the public. Californians knew that Schiff had lied repeatedly about Trump in the Russia-Russia hoax to bring a president down. The House, by a 213-209 partisan vote, had censured Schiff, only the 25th Congressman in American history to be so censured. Even the most liberal Republicans in the House did not find Schiff's defense credible. Schiff engineered Trump's first impeachment over Ukraine on a now-debunked charge. Biden has done far more damage to Ukraine by supporting an "as-long-as-it-takes" war that has killed more than a million soldiers on both sides. Schiff later supported Liz Cheney in an 18-month crusade against Trump when she co-chaired the J6 Committee. On Biden's last day in office, Schiff received a preemptive pardon. The shocking thing is that Californians saw nothing wrong in Schiff's candidacy and promoted him to the Senate.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a DEI politician through and through, ensured that incompetent people were in charge as fires raged. The Palisades reservoir was dry for maintenance, and there wasn't enough water in fire hydrants, a situation so dire that Gavin Newsom, California's governor, ordered an investigation.
Voting for ideologies is fine, but Californian voters should place performance above ideology and fire political leaders who underperform. California deserves better.
Rajkamal Rao is a columnist and a member of the tippinsights editorial board. He is an American entrepreneur and wrote the WorldView column for the Hindu BusinessLine, India's second-largest financial newspaper, on the economy, politics, immigration, foreign affairs, and sports.
TIPP Picks
Selected articles from tippinsights.com And More
Trump’s Second Term Agenda And Actions
1. America Awakes From Its Coma - Victor Davis Hanson, The Daily Signal
2. Trump to Declassify Files on JFK, RFK, MLK Assassinations - S.A. McCarthy, The Daily Signal
3. ‘Liberation Day’: 8 Takeaways From Trump’s Second Inaugural Address - Fred Lucas & Bradley Devlin, The Daily Signal
4. Trump to Mandate Government Recognizing 2 Sexes, Male And Female - Jarrett Stepman, The Daily Signal
5. Trump Sticks Knife Into Architects Of America’s Decline – Right To Their Faces - Mary Rooke, DCNF
6. Trump Declares ‘Golden Age’ In Speech To Usher In Second Term - Nicole Silverio, DCNF
7. ‘A Healthy Reset’: Trump Withdraws US From World Health Organization - Ben Johnson, The Daily Signal
8. The Endangerment Finding: It Looks Like Trump 2.0 Will Be Much More Fun Than Trump 1.0 - Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian
Immigration
9. Media Grandstanding On Immigration Meets Reality - Steve Cortes, Patria with Steve Cortes
10. Birthright Citizenship: Game On! - John C. Eastman, American Mind
11. Trump 2.0 Hits The Ground Running As Birthright Citizenship EO Sparks First Legal Showdown - Editorial Board, TIPP Insights
12. Trump DOJ Investigating Sanctuary Cities Resisting Immigration Enforcement - Jason Hopkins, Daily Caller
13. Trump To Sign 10 Executive Orders On Border And Immigration - Virginia Allen, The Daily Signal
14. Feds Raid California 'Maternity Hotels' for Birth Tourists - Andrew Blankstein, Anna Schecter and Tracy Connor, NBC News (article from 2019)
Pardons
15. Lawmakers React To Trump’s Pardon Of Jan. 6 ‘Political Prisoners’ - Virginia Allen & Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, The Daily Signal
16. Biden’s Sweeping Last-Minute Pardons Could Come Back To Haunt His Family, Alan Dershowitz Says - Harold Hutchison, DCNF
17. ‘This Is Just Egregious’: Megyn Kelly Slams Biden’s Last-Minute Pardons, But Those Pardoned Can Still Face Prosecution - Hailey Gomez, DCNF
18. ‘Pardongate’: Biden’s Pardons Of Fauci, Milley, J6 Committee, Family Spark Questions, Outrage - Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal
19. All The President’s Pardons: Will They Define Biden’s Legacy As King Of Preemptive Pardons? - Editorial Board, TIPP Insights
Politics/Issues
20. The Addicted, Petty, and Hysterical Left — Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness
21. End Of An Error: An Epitaph To A Failed Presidency - Peter Parisi, The Daily Signal
22. Why Companies Are Ditching ESG - John Stossel, Reason
23. Harvard Students Describe ‘Stigma’ Around Conservatism - George Caldwell, The Daily Signal
24. Gen X And Retirement Benefits: Uncertainty Abounds - Jane L. Johnson, Mises Wire
25. Can Monetary and Fiscal Stimulus Counter Recessions? - Frank Shostak, Mises Wire
26. The Conquest of the United States by Spain - William Graham Sumner, Mises Daily
27. This Anti-Hegseth Lie Isn’t Even Skin-Deep - Deroy Murdock, The Daily Signal
