Fools Rush In
How California's incomprehensible politics came to be
I’ve spent the last few years trying to figure out why California’s style of progressive politics are so uniquely incoherent and why they lead to such shockingly dysfunctional outcomes. I’ve written quite a bit about that here, so this piece, which I just published in UnHerd, includes some material that will be familiar to long-time readers. But this is the first time I’ve packaged it all into one (somewhat lengthy) piece.
This one isn’t paywalled, so you can follow the link to read the whole essay.
Hope you like it.
The cathedral. I have not read anything more than the title. Now I begin reading I just wanted to put down a marker.
I am not convinced. I don't think this is an historical, cultural conflict. I think it is Puritanism all the way down. On the one hand they oppose the positive assertion of individual rights such as 1A and 2A. On the backside of the same hand, they oppose the negative assertion of individual rights such as stopping (to live free from) public drug use, theft, etc. Puritanism is profoundly authoritarian and anti-social. It is their credo that you not be free and enjoy life. Control and immiseration is their spiritual journey.