California Democrats’ reparations saga has crashed and burned in its first attempt to get off the ground because it turns out that an unworkable idea being handled by the most incompetent state government in the country is not exactly well-positioned for success.
The state legislature’s black caucus tanked both proposed reparations bills put forward by Democratic state Sen. Steven Bradford without his permission. Bradford claims this is because Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) may veto the bills after Bradford rejected his revisions to the legislation. And all of this happened only after a Republican in the state Assembly tried to force a vote, so Democrats could make it clear where they stand on forcing Californians 160 years removed from slavery to pay reparations despite California never being a slave state.
What’s more, the bills were only the first step of the convoluted, almost surely impossible state effort to begin the reparations process. One would create the “California American Freedman Affairs Agency,” another bureaucracy to stash useless government officials that would oversee and implement various future reparations proposals. The other would establish a state reparations fund to pay for these proposals. Without these, even proposals that have passed, such as one that would address black Californians who had their lands taken through eminent domain, are left hanging in the balance.
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This comes as California has continued to wrestle with a budget deficit problem that will hang over the state for the foreseeable future, with Newsom and Democrats in the legislature being forced to make spending cuts and freeze programs while raising taxes on businesses to try and catch up. California’s system of spending money first and then later finding out if enough rich people still live in the state to tax is unsustainable, which means the state’s promises are more prone to being broken than would be expected from typical politicians’ campaign lies.
California Democrats need no input or cooperation from Republicans for anything, given the state’s legislative supermajority. Even a collection of the country’s most left-wing politicians can’t agree on laying the groundwork for a reparations fund and bureaucrats to administrate it. It is a testament both to the incompetence of California Democrats and the unworkability of reparations. There are much better things for California to go broke over and much better politicians who would make sure going broke isn’t a possibility in the first place.