Los Angeles Times Columnist Steve Lopez finds out who is to blame for California's problems: Republicans.
Lopez said, column Ran Times While Lopez acknowledges that Democrats are right to be “in a difficult position,” he argues that Republicans are to blame because they haven't offered them a viable alternative and because some of the state's worst policies were enacted during Republican administrations.
For example, Lopez writes that part of the cause of the homeless problem was Governor Ronald Reagan's decision to close psychiatric hospitals, which at the time were widely viewed as inhumane.
[C]Libertarians and others in bad faith argued that mentally ill patients were being neglected and mistreated in the state's psychiatric hospitals. Three California legislators (one Republican and two Democrats) enacted the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which was signed by Republican Governor Ronald Reagan. The law placed limits on involuntary psychiatric treatment, leading to the closure of the hospitals.
He also says the crime is Republicans' fault because Republicans won't give up the right to bear arms.
It's a bit hypocritical to blame California for its insanity and recklessness when it comes to public safety when no amount of massacres around the country, such as mass shootings at shopping malls and schools (including one at a Georgia high school on Wednesday that left two students and two teachers dead), can loosen the gun lobby's deadly grip on Republican lawmakers.
Lopez then added the usual argument: Republicans alienated Latino voters by supporting Proposition 187, which sought to deny service to illegal immigrants. Add in their conservative views on same-sex marriage and abortion, and you have the Republicans to blame.
The California Republican Party alienated many Latinos in the 1990s with its ban on services to undocumented immigrants through Proposition 187 and Republican Gov. Pete Wilson's “They Just Keep Coming” television ads. At last year's Republican fall convention, attempts to remove opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage from the party platform were defeated.
Read Lopez's full op-ed here.
California has become a de facto one-party state over the past two decades, partly because its predecessor, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, bowed to union pressure and abandoned reforms, demoralizing conservatives, partly because Democrats manipulated the rules for elections and ballot initiatives, and partly because Republican voters, especially homeowners and small business owners, simply fled elsewhere.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sundays from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm (4:00 pm to 7:00 pm ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. Agenda: What President Trump Should Do in His First 100 Daysavailable for pre-order on Amazon. He also Trumpian virtue: The lessons and legacy of Donald Trump's presidencyavailable now on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
