A State of Distraction
How California Created Its Own Catastrophe
First, a note on leadership.
Agree or disagree with either of their policies, this is the difference between crisis leadership and crisis failure:
See the difference?
Sums up what is happening in Los Angeles right now.
That being said, in the grand scheme of things, the amount of money various and sundry California government agencies have spent on absurdities like DEI is actually relatively small.
But the time and energy spent on them has been enormous – and that is one of the reasons the fires have been so devastating.
Elected officials – even the smart ones (they actually exist) - have only so much time and political capital to spend on a wide variety of issues. When DEI, social justice, or whatever you wish to call it takes up that time there is less bandwidth to spend on doing things like actually competently running a government.
Why do California electeds and apparatchiks spend so much time on non-existent issues like systemic racism, climate change (used to be called global warming until that proved problematic from a public relations standpoint,) and green energy?
First, because it’s easy.
As a politician, would you rather pontificate on a hot button issue or would you rather wade though a 437 page zoning plan?
Would you rather stand in front of something shiny and new and get your picture on TV or make sure potholes get filled?
Would you rather yell about cultural issues than spend time ensuring your agency had a reliable IT system?
There are votes to be had, donations to be hoovered up, media attention to be obtained if you only pick the right topic.
In other words, telling people you worked to make sure the water system could handle anything is far less politically advantageous than saying you are righting an eternal cultural wrong.
The public expects things to work – that’s the baseline and, therefore, making sure that happens is not going to get you any votes.
Like Chris Rock said when it comes to raising his daughter, his only/baseline job as a dad is to make sure she doesn’t end up being a stripper.
This has been true since politicians first existed and is true across the political spectrum; but in California it has become the be all and end all of being an elected official.
Now, it seems, as practically every level of government has its own version of the toy department in which electeds focus on easy, performative, hot button topics rather than doing the actual work involved in governing.
And the Blob – foundations, lobbyists, bureaucrats, connected industries and players and the various nabobs and solons and Securitate apparatus – love it because while the silly Scott Wieners and AOCs (and there are definitely some on the right) of the world are off on various social quests the Blob can continue actually running things in peace.
To be more accurate, by letting them play in that other sandbox, the Sacramento Blob can maintain the status quo no matter what and does not have to deal with pesky humans asking problematic questions.
Second, as an elected would you accept be pilloried for not “standing up for (insert group here) rights” because you were too busy actually making sure the basic functions of the state were actually functioning?
The answer is simple – stand up, say stuff, and stay in the “toy department” of the political world, and you never have to worry about that.
It is reminiscent of the trend a few years ago of Brooklyn adults (that’s kind, it’s actually middle-aged trust fund kids for the most part) paying $140 an hour to go to someone’s house to grab some Crayolas and a coloring book and leave the difficult world of choices and actions behind.
The Los Angeles Fire Department and the Department of Water and Power over the past few years have made absolutely sure to have as many (insert group here) in more exalted internal positions as possible.
But neither made sure that the water system was working properly, that firefighters were pre-positioned to knock down fires when they start.
In theory, one can do both. In practice, unless one is amazingly efficient at their job and has lots of time and money left over after getting the basics done, one really can’t. Even if one really thinks there may be an issue surrounding certain subjects (by the way, there really isn’t,) the first focus must be the job itself.
When basic deliverables become second tier issues, when they get lost in the political noise of the moment they end up being ignored.
Here are the top five “goals” of the LAFD, according to its most recent strategic plan:
GOAL 1: DELIVER EXCEPTIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY AND EMERGENCY SERVICE
GOAL 2: PROMOTE A SAFE, HEALTHY, AND PROGRESSIVE WORK
ENVIRONMENT THAT EFFECTIVELY MANAGES PERSONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RISK
GOAL 3: COMMIT TO AN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE THAT EMBRACES DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
GOAL 4: IMPROVE COLLABORATION, PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP,AND RESPONSIBLE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
GOAL 5: FOSTER PERSONAL GROWTH, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT,AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESSION
While the nod to delivering “exceptional public safety and emergency service:” was nice, look at the other four again – none have anything to do with actually fighting fires.
And it is at that most basic level that California government has failed – it is all dessert, no real food.
No real purpose, no real function, no real anything.
In other words, unreal.