LA Council perspective: One-party politics spurs offensive racist sensibilities

California Policy Center president Will Swaim unpacks the recent flurry of Los Angeles City Council resignations, prompted by leaked audio where several Latino councilmembers made explicit racist comments. This shocking event, says Swaim, derives from California’s domination by the progressive ideology: Extremely tilted politics are devoid of “philosophical rigor” — which encourages local leaders to resort to ad hominem, ad nauseam.

The Democrats who rule Los Angeles fly the woke flag of social justice proudly. Yet here they were, behind closed doors, speaking like Jim Crow racists.

Los Angeles is a one-party city in a one-party state. Its politics lack real philosophical rigor, so political competitions routinely devolve into narrow personal attacks and the division of spoils—like redistricting maps. The old cliché is still true: The brilliant sunshine and Hollywood glamour mask darker realities. The city is financially hollowed out and faces “recessionary economic conditions and inflationary pressure on labor, capital, and energy costs,” according to Mark Moses, a former city finance director. “You can be assured that little productive fiscal work can be done in such an environment.”

You can also be assured that while the politicians call each other names in private, the city will continue to spiral downward. Homeless camps and open-air drug markets will continue to metastasize. Construction of new housing will remain effectively prohibited, save for those who are magnificently wealthy, politically connected or both. And the public education system will continue to be run by a teachers union more interested in transgenderism, Donald Trump and the Israel-Palestine conflict than in teaching students to read and write.

This article originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Read the whole thing here.

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