Victor Davis Hanson has written a terrific essay on preserving what was once good in California. As always, Victor Davis Hanson is a wonderful read, and I highly recommend you read the entire short article.
In the article, he comes up with a solution as to how to save California in a single paragraph – not 2,000 pages. Hopefully without discouraging you from reading the entire essay, here is his very clear, excellent solution:
All of which raises the question: how would we return to sanity in California, a state as naturally beautiful and endowed and developed by our ancestors as it has been sucked dry by our parasitic generation? The medicine would be harder than the malady, and I just cannot see it happening, as much as I love the state, admire many of its citizens, and see glimmers of hope in the most unlikely places every day.
After all, in no particular order, we would have to close the borders; adopt English immersion in our schools; give up on the salad bowl and return to the melting pot; assimilate, intermarry, and integrate legal immigrants; curb entitlements and use the money to fix infrastructure like roads, bridges, airports, trains, etc.; build 4-5 new dams to store water in wet years; update the canal system; return to old policies barring public employee unions; redo pension contracts; cut about 50,000 from the public employee roles; lower income taxes from 10% to 5% to attract businesses back; cut sales taxes to 7%; curb regulations to allow firms to stay; override court orders now curbing cost-saving options in our prisons by systematic legislation; start creating material wealth from our forests; tap more oil, timber, natural gas, and minerals that we have in abundance; deliver water to the farmland we have; build 3-4 nuclear power plants on the coast; adopt a traditional curriculum in our schools; insist on merit pay for teachers; abolish tenure; encourage not oppose more charter schools, vouchers, and home schooling; give tax breaks to private trade and business schools; reinstitute admission requirements and selectivity at the state university system; take unregistered cars off the road; make UC professors teach a class or two more each year; abolish all racial quotas and preferences in reality rather than in name; build a new all weather east-west state freeway over the Sierra; and on and on.
While he admits that implementing the solution will not be easy, let us see if we can elect some state legislators and governors who would have the foresight and courage to undertake to restore California using VDH’s remedy. If we want to preserve this once golden state, it is what we must do.
BEAR TO THE RIGHT 
How can you argue with the general idea. My view is the state needs to cut taxes far more than 10%, Closing the Border? I would think strict enforcement of U.S. Immigration Law would be far more practical. The Governor has the authority but has chosen not to. End entitlement and sales taxes all together. The nuclear power plants are coming, wind and solar make for cute media they just don't work to well at the switch. California's operating budget should be based strictly on the annual personal income tax. I firmly believe that the state would in fact function if a flat tax were adopted. If you are a California resident, or work here, or make income here, you should pay a simple flat tax. Gary's income is certainly more than mine, (for arguments sake, and that I don't want to offend any of the social leeches out there. I will be poor and impoverished), But his burden to the state is far less so why is Gary's tax liability greater than mine. Because he went to school and payed attention and become a successful businessman and respected member of the community. He is expected to pay for my dropping out of school, and not being very financially successful. I would think not.
Another point I would like to make is education. Efforts should be made to re-institute mandatory physical fitness, shop and life classes, ( life classes being how things work in the real world and how not to starve). Public Libraries deserve as much attention as does the environment, don't they?
And finally, the state should never compete with private enterprise, as in state funds being used for medical or scientific research. Commercially sound innovation only comes from the private sector. The state and cities for that matter are not businesses. All the financial models and corporate shenanigans need to be stopped. Government is government, church is church, and business is business. Our tax money is not an investment. Public employee unions, if they are not self sufficient need to outlawed, if the unions did not give a huge chunk of their revenue to Campaign Contributions, and another chunk to administration and the rest gambling in investments their pension funds might have something in them.
LikeLike