Los Angeles Times readers might think the first night of the Republican National Convention was nothing more than a nonstop attack on California. In its coverage of the first evening’s events, the paper posted the headline “RNC speakers paint California as a dangerous dystopia.” Missing from the report were rebuttals to the claims made by the speakers. Maybe that’s because it’s too difficult to deny the truth.
For the record, California is not a dystopia for all. A very thin slice of the 39 million people in the state is quite wealthy and comfortable. These elites can root on the riots in radical-chic fashion because they are insulated from their consequences. They’re happy to condemn economic inequality while standing behind the policies and policymakers that have created and exacerbated the disparities. And they have no need to bother their own thoughts about the effects of a political environment that is driving out the middle class.
