California burning

The news has recently been dominated by shocking words and images from the wildfires that have stunningly invaded Los Angeles. Such stories have been more common in recent years, but this season’s destruction appears to be especially devastating. Crises make change a priority, and this one should be no different.

First, however, there is a question of accountability. Inevitably, there will be a political battle designed to fix blame. California is ripe for a reckoning in that sense simply because the state has gone from being a Republican stronghold that fostered the careers of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to one with a near–Democrat monopoly where Republicans may often not even make the top two candidates in the general election. In such a situation, Democrats will be forced to defend their management of a state that is literally on fire.

Given the devastation, there is no doubt that the Democrat Party owns the disaster and can point to no one else. Republicans have almost no say over the public policy of the state and its cities and haven’t for a long time now. Neither Gov. Gavin Newsom nor Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass can point to decisions Republicans have made or any meaningful opposition they may have put up. There is no question. Democrats govern California. If anything could have been done to prevent the disaster of wildfires out of control, it would have been up to Newsom and other Democrats to do it. And now, Republicans may have a rare chance to regain some influence in a state where they’ve been completely marginalized.

Second, there is a more important question than that of partisan accountability and potential political advantage. The more important matter has to do with what we can call public policy realism. In other words, are we structuring the priorities and activities of government around dealing with the real needs of our communities for peace, order, and the responsible use of resources, or are we increasingly engaging in a politics of symbolism and signaling? I would argue the latter situation better describes the way many politicians have been conducting themselves. Gov. Newsom appears to be a good example of this new breed that produces far more messaging and appeasement of interest groups than real results. The state’s incredibly long-stalled LA to San Francisco rail project stands as a constant reminder of talk far outpacing action.

With regard to the fires, we have heard a variety of plausible causes. First, California is naturally vulnerable to wildfires. Forest management may have tilted in the direction of certain environmental practices that disapprove of the kind of controlled burns and reduced forestation that could have substantially mitigated the crisis that has exploded. Second, the water infrastructure is plainly inadequate to fight the fires that exist. We could layer in additional problems. Many homes in the area have too much vegetation that fosters the spread of fire. Development in Southern California is incredibly dense for an area vulnerable to wildfire. All of this is to say that there is a great deal that can be known and understood about fire and how to reduce the risks for human beings who live in threatened areas. The question is whether California’s leaders have addressed the problem (and other problems such as crime) instead of constantly engaging in symbolic politics, luxury beliefs, and virtue signaling that does very little to protect, safeguard, and improve the lives of citizens.

The temptation of California’s leaders will be to chalk the whole thing up to climate change and to campaign hard on measures addressed toward that. Because attacking climate change and blaming carbon fuels is completely on brand for California politicians, such an approach is likely. But it would be a tremendous mistake for Golden State voters to accept such a program as the answer to season after season of wildfires. Regardless of your view on climate change, reducing carbon will do nothing to combat a threat that will likely remain immediate for decades.

Californians who want to remain in the state should demand that political leaders go far beyond ideology, which can be pretty uncomfortable for those who never go to the trouble to really understand public policy and public administration and to actually address the fundamentals. Every California leader needs to understand the real nature of the threat of wildfires, the ways to protect against it that will actually work, and how to prioritize the issue in a way that reflects the vast toll of destruction it has visited upon the state and will yet bring if not addressed.

The next leaders of California better care more about things like controlling crime and fighting fires than the current ones do. Republican or Democratic, voters are getting a costly lesson in what we need government to actually handle. Nuts and bolts have been out of style for far too long.