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By Jon Coupal
President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that read “The Buck Stops Here.”
In an interview with legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow, he explained that, as president, he was responsible for all the decisions of his administration and wouldn’t “pass the buck” to someone else.
In California, political leaders have elevated “buck passing” to an art form and are adept at making excuses for their litany of failures.
For example, progressive state and local leaders decry rising crime rates but they are the ones responsible for effectively hamstringing law enforcement to such an extent that most crimes in California go either unreported or unpunished.
Even worse, as videos of gangs raiding stores appear daily, progressive legislators have introduced a bill, Senate Bill 553, which prohibits store employees from interfering with criminals in the act of shoplifting. (The California Retailers Association mocks the bill as an open invitation for thieves “to come in and steal.”)
Another example involves illegal immigration. Governor Gavin Newsom railed against Florida officials for sending a few dozen undocumented migrants to California and even went so far as to suggest Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis be arrested for kidnapping. Even left-leaning law professors thought this was foolish. But it was Gov. Newsom himself who noted that California, as a sanctuary state, would welcome undocumented migrants. So what was he expecting?
When it comes to the crisis with homelessness in California, our political leaders need to gaze in the mirror. The governor blames local governments for not building more housing units and issues threats – mostly to conservative cities – with ever increasingly draconian mandates. But he doesn’t make the same threats to localities where he is popular, like Marin County.
To read the entire column, please click here.
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