Editors at the Washington Examiner highlight the Virginia governor’s positive impact.
As part of his effort to supplant Vice President Kamala Harris as heir apparent to the leadership of the Democratic Party, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) appeared at last week’s Republican presidential primary debate with a message that his was the “freedom state.”
“We believe in these crazy things here called free speech, gun safety, healthcare, Social Security, and climate change,” Newsom posted, not bothering to explain how some of the nation’s most restrictive gun laws are evidence of “freedom.”
It’s not clear how “climate change” and “social security” can be thought of as freedoms, either. But one would have to have a weird definition of freedom to associate it at all with California. Under Newsom’s leadership, California locked down citizens the longest during COVID, closed public schools, playgrounds, and beaches, and even denied people their First Amendment right to worship. California is one of the most ban-happy states in the union.
It bans drinking soda through a plastic straw. The sale of caffeinated beer is banned, as is the circus, foie gras, fracking, fur sales, gasoline-powered lawn equipment, mowers, blowers, generators, and power washers. If you want to sell toys to children, your store must have a gender-neutral section. Even selling toys in California is illegal unless it is done along lines approved by the left-wing gender police.
California’s biggest ban of all is being implemented slowly and stealthily so the natives can’t feel their freedoms being extinguished. By 2035, it will be illegal in California to buy a new gasoline-powered car. The state most associated with driving on a highway with the top down and the wind in your hair is banning the most popular type of vehicle.
Democrats want to export California’s high-priced, restrictive, dystopian nightmare to all other states nationwide.
