While the embers still smolder of the terrible fires that ravaged Los Angeles County earlier this year, one thing is clearly in focus: California liberals want the rest of America to pay for their costly mistakes, without changing any of their costly regulations that caused such a catastrophe. An estimated $250 billion of damage has been done in LA County, far more than the damage done by the Great Chicago Fire which totally destroyed that city in 1871. The losses from that fire, considered one of the worst in history, were a much smaller inflation-adjusted $5.7 billion.
Chicago was rebuilt quickly, and the cost was contained because it was funded by its own residents, businesses, donations, and architects who were determined to build a great city. President Trump made a remarkable trip to Los Angeles to implore residents to reclaim their property and start their own construction as soon as possible. But rather than beginning the rebuild quickly, Los Angeles liberals smoldered with feelings of entitlement. They demanded that the federal government serve them a gravy train of handouts.
California is a regulatory nightmare, where radical environmentalists obstruct construction projects at every turn. The notorious California Coastal Commission asserts its own veto power over all human activity near the ocean, where much of popular California is. Environmentalists obstruct the routine clearing of underbrush necessary to avoid these disastrous wildfires from spreading so quickly in the first place. Terrible Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion hiring policies helped to bring the Los Angeles Fire Department to its knees and hamstrung the city’s government.
The reality is, California has plenty of money. Now it is time for its many billionaires to pick up their oars and row their own boat to infrastructure self-sufficiency within the next decade. Rural America elected Donald Trump over fierce opposition by the wealthy California leftists. Rural Trump voters should not be burdened with restoring the liberal lifestyle that just went up in smoke.
