Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has noticed that the state he runs looks like a “Third World country.” If only he were in a position to do anything about it.
Newsom visited Los Angeles, which is witnessing regular rail car looting, to help clean the mess and debris left behind by looters on the city’s railroad tracks. “What has happened on this stretch of the Union Pacific Railroad is unacceptable,” Newsom said. “We are committed to an all-of-government approach to prevent thefts, prosecute the criminals involved, and clean up local communities.”
‘It looked like a Third World country’: California Governor Gavin Newsom visited railway tracks in east Los Angeles littered with thousands of open and damaged packages looted from freight trains pic.twitter.com/8dR8qU4S1X
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 21, 2022
That’s all well and good, and Newsom’s new outlook of talking about crime seriously is certainly welcome. But it also comes across as insincere, and not just because California’s policies and the district attorneys in major cities aren’t following through. Newsom noted that the rail car looting was being done by “organized gangs of people,” before apologizing in case he offended the looters by calling them gangs.
“This is not one-off. This is organized theft. These are organized gangs of people,” Newsom says, then apologizes for saying “gangs,” says wasn’t “pejorative”
— Jeremy B. White (@JeremyBWhite) January 20, 2022
Newsom and his Democratic colleagues could help solve this problem whenever they like. California Democrats have consistently de-emphasized punishing criminals in favor of lax crime policies, letting repeat offenders out on the streets. Ballot Proposition 47 downgraded thefts under $950 to misdemeanors, leading to scenes in San Francisco in which criminals steal merchandise in broad daylight. Newsom’s tough talk isn’t going to stop criminals. Policy changes are needed.
This is similar to problems California Democrats have on the state’s other failures. The highest poverty rate and homelessness rate in the country, persistent energy problems, a cost of living that is becoming increasingly unlivable: All are problems that can only be traced back to the failures of California Democrats. There is no major Republican around to blame these things on.
Newsom has apparently recognized this when it comes to schools. After imposing some of the worst restrictions on children because of COVID-19, in defiance of all the data, Newsom is now prioritizing keeping children in school. Nothing is stopping him from taking the same hard-line stance on crime, other than the bizarre liberal impulse to sympathize with criminals more than victims.
If Newsom thinks that crime in Los Angeles makes California look like a Third World country, he has no one to blame but himself and his party. His tough talk is just talk. Until Democratic district attorneys actually start cracking down on these “gangs,” no amount of tough talk matters.
