Editor’s note: This is the fourth article in a nine-part series on how to fix California. Read the first article in the series here, the second here, and the third here. Reading California’s “Transportation Plan 2050” is a depressing journey into groupthink. Like everything coming out of the one-party bureaucracy, it is the bland product of...
Latest episode of the Radio Free California podcast is out! In this week’s episode of National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast, CPC’s Will Swaim and David Bahnsen discuss the latest lunacy coming out of the City by the Bay, and an expansion of California’s ban on taxpayer-funded travel to states Attorney General Rob Bonta thinks...
At its yearly convention, the National Education Association advanced its political agenda, while doing nothing to address America’s failing public schools. “When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children,” a quote attributed to teacher union godfather Albert Shanker, has become lore. While it is doubtful he...
For lovers of freedom, living in California can sometimes feel like a losing battle. Teachers unions run the schools (or, more recently, ensure they don’t run), Sacramento politicians refuse to grant hearings to minority bills, and high taxes and excessive regulations are forcing more and more of our neighbors and family members to pack up...
Editor’s note: This is the third article in a nine-part series on how to fix California. Read the first article in the series here, and the second here. As Californians face another drought, the official consensus response is more rationing. Buy washers that don’t work very well. Install more flow restrictors. Move down from a 50 gallon per...
Editor’s note: This is the second article in a nine-part series on how to fix California. Read the first article in the series here. If energy were abundant, clean, and sustainable, nearly every other daunting challenge facing humanity would be much easier to solve. Insufficient water? No problem. Pump more water around via inter-basin transfers...
Editor’s note: This is the first article in a nine-part series on how to fix California For conservatives across America, California has become the cautionary tale for the rest of the country. Anyone who actually lives in the Golden State, and enjoys the best weather and the most beautiful, diverse scenery on earth, knows there...
Latest episode of the Radio Free California Podcast is out! In this week’s episode of National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast, CPC’s Will Swaim and David Bahnsen discuss what some activists have proposed to end Oakland’s gun violence epidemic: guaranteed income, business subsidies, mortgage payments, and “culturally competent” therapy. As California enters fire season, we...
As the number of new people getting vaccinated in California has decreased over the past few months, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a new program, “Vax for the Win” to provide incentives to those who are on the fence about getting the shot. While Newsom was not the first governor to institute such programs (see Ohio), he...
Schools are out for summer, and the fall holds many questions for education in America. According to data released by Education Week, America’s government-run schools lost almost 1.3 million students this year. (Delaware, Illinois, and North Carolina didn’t supply enrollment statistics, so the true number is probably somewhat higher.) The downtick was due to the...
Over a quarter-million California workers are exercising new-found freedoms, despite lawmakers’ and unions’ attempt to prevent them from doing so. In the past three years, an estimated 306,000 Californians – representing 20% of the public workforce – have stopped paying dues and fees to unions. This means they are able to keep approximately $240 million...
New episode of the Radio Free California podcast is out! In this week’s episode of National Review’s Radio Free California podcast, California Policy Center’s Will Swaim and David Bahnsen talk about one of the most quintessential California topics: Weed. Though his experiment to legalize the drug seems to be failing (the pot industry blames government),...
From the beginning, political insiders questioned the wisdom of supporting a Governor Newsom recall campaign. But when Orrin Heatlie was picking up the pieces after the first recall effort, he recognized something that eluded most experts: From scratch, with absolutely no professional or financial support, a volunteer army had formed and gathered 352,271 signed petitions. This accomplishment...
California officially reopened this week to much media and gubernatorial fanfare. But something major was missing: the many job creators and residents who were forced to flee the state over the past 15 months that were marked by lockdowns, school closures, and onerous restrictions that frequently left businesses reeling and shelling out tens of thousands...