Some derisively call it the Land of Fruits and Nuts or even “Commiefornia,” and the Golden State is cementing this reputation now, too, with outgoing governor Jerry Brown having signed into law this past year 1,016 bills — some of which, it’s said, were designed to counter President Trump’s agenda.
This is a record for Brown’s last eight years, though he’s his own tough act to follow: Including his two terms from 1975 to 1983, Brown has signed a whopping 17,851 new laws in total.
That the Land of Fruits and Nuts is legislating from soup to nuts is significant because, while often forgotten, a law generally is a removal of a freedom. After all, laws virtually always state that there’s something we must or mustn’t do.
Thus, the more laws we have, the less free we are from governmental control. And given that governments continually enact more laws but hardly ever rescind any, this means that every year we’re progressively less free.
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So what liberties were robbed in California this time around? American Thinker’s Chriss Street provides a nice sampling (all quotations are his), using information from the CALmatters blog:
• “100 Percent Renewable Energy — S.B. 100 requires utilities to generate 50 percent of electricity from renewable sources in 2026 and 100 percent carbon-free sources by 2045. With Californians paying over 50 percent more for electricity than the U.S. average, SB 100 assures that subsidies will force residents to pay the highest U.S. rates.”
Given that California also has the highest poverty rate — when factoring in cost of living — this should help cement the state’s emerging Third World status.
• “For-Profit Charter Schools — A.B. 406, supported by teacher unions, bans private companies running charter schools. The 2018-2019 school year saw a new low of a net two new charter schools, but 1,323 remained open and still enrolled 660,000 students.”
Hey, if government schooling isn’t protected, where are future California lawmakers going to come from?
• “Drinks in Kids’ Meals — S.B. 1192 bans sugary sodas as a kid’s meal default beverage. Beverage choices were limited to water, plain milk, and non-dairy substitutes like yummy kiddie favorites such as almond milk.”
They forgot soy milk. Since it contains estrogenic compounds, its inclusion could purge the last vestiges of fruit-and-nut-state masculinity.
• “Plastic Straws — A.B. 1884 bans full-service, dine-in restaurants from offering single-use plastic straws unless they are requested by customers. The compromise legislation exempted fast-food chains.”
As I’ve reported, plastic straws are inconsequential, and only one percent of ocean-polluting plastics come from the United States. Then again, we’re talking about California here.
• “Wildfire Response — S.B. 901 allows PG&E utility to raise rates to pay for liability associated with 2017 forest fires supposedly sparked by power lines and provides $200 million to thin forests. The legislation avoids controversy about homeless starting forest fires and the legislature’s passing laws limiting logging roads that served as fire breaks.”
Don’t forget the illegals, starting the fires Americans won’t start.
• “‘Junk’ Health Insurance — S.B. 910 bans extremely inexpensive short-term health care policies that exclude pre-existing conditions favored by self-employed young people. The bill preserves record profits for big hospital chains and insurance companies under … Obamacare.”
Big hospital chains and insurance companies can grease politicians. Self-employed young people? Not so much.
• “Conservatorships for Mentally Ill Homeless People — S.B. 1045 allows a five-year pilot program for San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego Counties to take legal conservatorship and provide housing for individuals with serious mental illness and drug abuse disorders who refuse treatment and are frequently arrested by law enforcement.”
Hey, the Democrat Party has to know where to find them when vote harvesting.
• “Women on Corporate Boards — S.B. 826 forces publicly traded companies headquartered in California to appoint at least one female director by Dec. 31, 2019 and requires corporations with five directors to have at least two female directors by 2021.”
Norway tried this starting in 2006, mind you, with some very negative outcomes. All I have to ask, however, is with men constituting 92 percent of workplace deaths, when will there be a law mandating that a certain percentage of garbage collectors, oil-rig workers, steel workers, and loggers must be women? Hmm, ever get the feeling that screams of “underrepresentation” have less to do with “equality” than with power, pocketbook, and prestige?
• “Net Neutrality — S.B. 822 restored Obama’s FCC regulating the internet like the old AT&T monopoly that was dumped by the Trump administration. Silicon Valley blatantly sought reinstatement of Obama subsidies slowing new innovations and higher speeds.”
Leftists only appreciate speed when it’s in pill form.
What may increase in speed, however, is lawmaking. For California governor-elect Gavin Newsom promised early this month that with his huge Democrat majorities in both state houses, he will pass a sweeping social-justice agenda.
This lust for lawmaking and liberty-taking is why I long ago proposed The Defense Against Tyranny Amendment, which could be instituted federally or on a state level. It would place a cap on the total number of laws on the books, so that once the limit was reached, no more laws could be enacted without old ones being rescinded. While this wouldn’t be a perfect solution, it would help stem the removal of freedom and focus people’s minds on a fundamental issue: whether freedom is being eroded, increased, or kept constant.
Instead, the only legislative constant is creeping totalitarianism — brought to you courtesy of people who love control more than country.
Photo: Clipart.com
