Newsom Faces Voters Tired of “Progressive Detachment” from Their Real-Life Problems

August 3, 2021

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal outlines the problems facing California Governor Gavin Newsom as he prepares for a recall election this fall. The piece summarizes the challenges Newsom faces on numerous issues including crime, COVID lockdowns, housing and homelessness, and Green New Deal energy policies concluding that voters are frustrated about how Newsom and others seem to have a “progressive detachment from the problems that Californians are experiencing in their daily lives.”

This is certainly true when it comes to energy policy, as the editorial notes:

Young middle-class families are struggling to afford the state’s high cost-of-living, which is also a byproduct of progressive government. Zoning restrictions limit housing supply and inflate prices. Climate policies have driven up energy costs. Gasoline prices are averaging $4.37, $1.20 more than the national average. Electricity costs twice as much as in other western states and is increasingly unreliable due to heavy reliance on renewables.

The state’s electric grid manager last Tuesday directed residents to conserve power amid strained supply—the sixth warning this year. Utilities and Democrats have prioritized renewable investment over grid repairs and forest management. One result has been more destructive wildfires.

This is what happens when public policies are designed to meet the demands of privileged activists rather than to meet the needs of average working Americans. When these working Americans get fed up, they either look for new leadership or for another place to live. As this blog noted last May, California’s population decreased by 182,000 people in 2020, the first year-over-year population loss ever recorded for the state. Regardless of the outcome of this recall election, that is the true legacy of these progressive policies – a state that people are looking to flee.