California Screamin'

Someone please help us

Don McCullin, East Germans Looking Into West Berlin, 1961…or, Californians looking towards Texas today?

On a recent episode of his HBO show, Bill Maher dug into Adam Schiff (D-CA).

“I live in California, so I am going to bitch a little bit,” Maher said. “I love California… but I feel like I’m in Italy in the 1970s or something. Super high taxes, potholes in the road… Businesses are leaving in droves. I got solar panels on my roof and it’s been three years and they are still not turned on… I can’t tell you how many inspections. We jumped through every hoop. It’s just corruption.”

I’ve been here for almost a decade and can testify that something has shifted. There’s a boding darkness; a feeling of deep dysfunction and chaotic fury haunts public interactions. Californians aren’t so sunny anymore. We’re increasingly angry. We want to yell at someone.

Maher identifies the symptoms, but not the cause. If only it were corruption we could bribe fix California’s shared spaces. The worst-ever fores…