James Madison, father of the U.S. Constitution, said that “a popular Government, without popular information, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both.” That about sums up the reign of Gavin Newsom: A Tragic Farce.
Today, Newsom suddenly decided to lift the stay-at-home order statewide, “liberating” us to the purple tier. Of course, it’s a classic authoritarian move to deprive citizens of liberty and then award small doses at random to make them seem like gifts.
Just yesterday, Newsom was indicating he’d do the opposite. What’s actually going on is anyone’s guess: In a story headlined “It’s a secret: California keeps key virus data from public,” the AP reported Newsom isn’t giving the public access because we’d just be “confused.”
In other words, after nearly two and a half centuries of American history, Gavin Christopher Newsom has discerned that the Founders got it wrong. We are incapable of self-government. It’s just too complicated.
Newsom even refused to comply with a public records request for data to justify his lockdowns. The Center for American Liberty responded: “That is the peak of hubris. The idea that just because one works for a state agency makes one more qualified or more intelligent to understand data or scientific research, it’s just delusional.”
This disrespect for the people of California is a throughline in Newsom’s worst-in-the-nation COVID response. He’s essentially abolished representative government. He’s overridden the choices of local communities. He even just spent $80 million on what he called “smashmouth” public-education billboards with messages like, “Keep 6 pugs apart.”
Newsom has also consistently blamed the public for his own failures, saying “Don’t be selfish,” “It is our behaviors that are leading to these numbers,” and “some have developed a little amnesia.”
He’s now taking the same misanthropic approach to the Recall, with the infamous “California Coup” press conference claiming it’s somehow illegitimate for 1.2 million Californians to give the state new leadership through a 110-year-old constitutional process.
In truth, the Recall is bringing democracy to life in the most profound way. Whenever a corrupt political class has tried to tear our Constitution apart, the people have found a way to hold it together and make it stronger than before. Everywhere I go I see enthusiastic signature gatherers who are heirs to this American tradition.
It’s a movement not just to reject Gavin Newsom but to repudiate the arrogance and corruption he represents. It’s a movement driven not just by anger but aspiration – the belief that we can do so, so much better. Above all, it’s a movement to restore what is every American’s birthright: the right to govern ourselves.
Help me fight Newsom’s threat to liberty and self-government