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The Great Lesson of California in America’s New Civil War : Not only is CA just fine, it's the way forward for America


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2018 Apr 6, 5:23pm   1,993 views  5 comments

by MisdemeanorRebel   ➕follow (12)   💰tip   ignore  

Here's a series that postulates that California, having defeated the neanderthal Republicans in the 2000s, is on it's way to a great glorious future.


Why there’s no bipartisan way forward at this juncture in our history — one side must win

In the early 2000s, California faced a similar situation to the one America faces today. Its state politics were severely polarized, and state government was largely paralyzed. The Republican Party was trapped in the brain-dead orthodoxies of an ideology stuck in the past. The party was controlled by zealous activists and corrupt special interests who refused to face up to the reality of the new century. It was a party that refused to work with the Democrats in good faith or compromise in any way.

The solution for the people of California was to reconfigure the political landscape and shift a supermajority of citizens — and by extension their elected officials — under the Democratic Party’s big tent. The natural continuum of more progressive to more moderate solutions then got worked out within the context of the only remaining functioning party. The California Democrats actually cared about average citizens, embraced the inevitable diversity of 21st-century society, weren’t afraid of real innovation, and were ready to start solving the many challenges of our time, including climate change.

California today provides a model for America as a whole. This model of politics and government is by no means perfect, but it is far ahead of the nation in coming to terms with the inexorable digital, global, sustainable transformation of our era. It is a thriving work in progress that gives hope that America can pull out of the political mess we’re in. California today provides a playbook for America’s new way forward. It’s worth contemplating as we enter 2018, which will be a critical election year.


https://medium.com/s/state-of-the-future/the-great-lesson-of-california-in-americas-new-civil-war-e52e2861f30

The author of course is a former Wired Magazine Techno-utopian and runs a website that basically praises Bitcoin, "Filter" Removal, etc.

Comments 1 - 5 of 5        Search these comments

1   FortWayne   2018 Apr 6, 5:25pm  

CA is failing out of its own corruption. As a citizen I feel like I can only watch and hope sanity kicks in to turn it all around.
2   MisdemeanorRebel   2018 Apr 6, 5:27pm  

I'm just starting on it, but I have a feeling the piece isn't going to address all these Internet Startups being pre-revenue for a decade or more, Unaffordable Home Prices, Low Density Expensive Sprawl, etc.

His reinvent website assumes everybody works creatively for a living, and nobody takes the trash, mops floors, or builds things.

This is a state where the guy whose received investment from Google and Big VC to make a "wifi-enabled" Juicer for $400 and $8/pack juices, after it was revealed you can just squeeze the shit from the pack into a glass, immediately posted a picture of himself at Burning Man walking into a sandstorm, and re-emerged talking about "Raw Water" for $40/gallon. He's more typical than atypical, all hat, no cattle. All Pre-Revenue. All Marketing.

The state lives not only on borrowed money, but on borrowed water that will take tens of thousands of years to replenish.

I think California is a bubble.
3   Evan F.   2018 Apr 6, 6:44pm  

No, the Juicero is atypical. In a state that prides itself on innovation, you're going to get batshit crazy startups that crash and burn. Then you have Facebook, and SpaceX, and Google, and Apple. You have the most influential and highest-grossing flim/media industry on the planet (can't say 'biggest', since Bollywood is indeed bigger). You have the largest farming output of any state. You have the largest port in the country (Los Angeles/Long Beach). You have a crapton of offshore oil drilling AND the biggest green energy players in the country HQ'd here.

Internet startup are fun to mock, because they're mostly awful. But CA's economy is much more diversified than most states. And if you think CA's gov't is corrupt, let me show you Illinois, or Florida, or New York, or fucking New Jersey, jesus, they're the worst.

As far as bubble economics go, YES, we're due for a correction. But that's not specific to CA.
4   MrMagic   2018 Apr 6, 8:07pm  

TwoScoopsPlissken says
Why there’s no bipartisan way forward at this juncture in our history — one side must win


I read a story about that the other day.

We are way past the point in the country where people will even consider a different opinion or point of view. There is zero tolerance.

The only thing left at this point, Civil War II
5   MisdemeanorRebel   2018 Apr 11, 10:42am  


California officials are hoping their latest attempt to stem the rising tides of climate change leads to a more socially conscious -- and cooler -- summer.

Officials in Los Angeles have been painting streets white to reduce the effect of urban "heat islands" and combat the effects of climate change.

The LA Street Services began rolling out the project last May, which preliminary testing shows has reduced the temperature of roadways by up to 10 degrees. The project involves applying a light gray coating of the product CoolSeal, made by the company GuardTop.

"CoolSeal is applied like conventional sealcoats to asphalt surfaces to protect and maintain the quality and longevity of the surface," according to the company website. "While most cool pavements on the market are polymer based, CoolSeal is a water-based, asphalt emulsion."

While each coasting could can last up to seven years, they are also pricey, with the estimated cost of $40,000 per mile, the L.A. Daily News reported.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/10/los-angeles-painting-city-streets-white-in-bid-to-combat-climate-change.html

It's almost as if California doesn't have a massive debt problem.

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