The recent devastating fires in Los Angeles have become a harsh reminder of how much California’s progressive politics have failed its citizens. With damages expected to exceed $250 billion, these fires are set to become the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. And the events that led to it are downright shocking.
Take Wednesday, for example, when it was revealed that the LA Fire Department (LAFD) sent just five trucks out of 40 available and kept over 1,000 firefighters on the sidelines during the Palisades Fire. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley and her team are defending the decision, but their excuses aren’t landing with the people of LA, who are rightly furious.
It gets worse. LAFD’s response time had nearly doubled compared to national recommendations, and budget cuts left crucial equipment out of service. Whistleblowers have even come forward, exposing how LA’s DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policies might have contributed to this failure, by prioritizing spending on DEI-compliant vendors and lowering standards to meet hiring quotas.
So, how much is too much? Can LA’s leaders get anything right?
Well, there’s more. The California Coastal Commission, in all its wisdom, blocked efforts to fire-harden the Pacific Palisades area, choosing to protect an endangered plant instead. Yes, you read that right—officials stopped LA from replacing wooden power poles with steel ones, widening fire-access lanes, and installing fire-resistant power lines, all in the name of saving an endangered plant called Braunton’s milkvetch. And, when the LA Department of Water and Power tried to take action, the Commission fined them. The fire that followed? It started right near that very “milkvetch protection area.” The irony is almost too much.
Dozens of people have lost their lives, thousands of homes are gone, and thousands of acres have burned, all while the city remains in chaos. And that endangered plant? It’s probably nothing but ashes now.
Then, of course, there’s the baffling response from political leaders. Governor Gavin Newsom, who cut the state’s firefighting budget by over $100 million just months before the fires, grinned and shrugged on a local news broadcast as the flames spread. This comes after he splurged $14.7 billion on California’s ambitious—but flawed—green energy transition. Talk about missing the point.
Meanwhile, Mayor Karen Bass of LA slashed fire-department funding while pouring money into “woke” programs, including scandal-ridden homeless initiatives. As the fire raged, she was seen schmoozing at a cocktail party with Ghana’s newly inaugurated president—an image that doesn’t exactly scream leadership in a crisis.
And let’s not forget Bass’s Deputy Mayor, Brian Williams, who had oversight over LAFD. He was placed on leave after federal agents raided his home in connection with a bomb threat against City Hall.
In short, California’s political landscape is a mess of failures, contradictions, and missed opportunities, with the people paying the price. If anything, these events show that “progressive” policies are increasingly putting everyday lives at risk. It’s clear that something needs to change—before the next disaster strikes.
