Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT by Don Polson      Red Bluff Daily News 11/19/2024

        How about some acceptance, warmth?

You may have noticed some irritation, aggravation, even anger among friends, acquaintances and families, over apparently irreconcilable political differences. This isn’t written to comment on a national phenomenon but as a way to provide some heartfelt guidance regarding the approaching Thanksgiving and Christmas season, for local readers with their extended network of family and friends.

We have a close relative with whom an otherwise congenial visit was cut short when post-election animosity bubbled forth—meaning their spontaneous, uninvited vituperation at Donald Trump. Our civil response was to gather things and make polite farewells rather than trade political barbs and accusations.

My dentist has a son leaving the country over Kamala’s loss, and Trump’s win. Dad allowed that his son is an adult, free to make such choices; rather than accept projected or fanciful doom-saying, Dad advised considering actual results for a while before permanently crossing that border.

Some voices on the Democrat left advise followers to cut off known Republican, Trump-supporting relatives from holiday get-togethers. Republican readers, 69 percent of the local electorate as cited last week, may wonder if turnabout is fair play—if it’s appropriate to refuse to visit Democrat-voting family or friends.

I think it depends upon whether you can discipline yourself into a “let’s agree to disagree” mindset. Preferably, anticipate and avoid inflammatory topics, and guide interactions to the many topics upon which civil discourse can still be had: people’s work, vacations, home improvements, hunting or fishing trips, kids activities and school events. Have a TV tuned to sports events; maybe have another room with a TV tuned to channels the women prefer. Be creative; make such visits to political opposites short, and congenial.

My message to all, as we depart to Bend, Oregon, for a medical follow-up and possible early season skiing: Have a Happy Thanksgiving, loosen the belt, and enjoy the camaraderie and fellowship of the holiday.

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Catching up on some California-centric items: While Elon Musk is demonized by the Democrat-left for his political advocacy, it’s worth bearing in mind that the world’s most successful and richest man has a lucrative relationship with California (for both Musk and our state). He employs quite a few Californians; however, his SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base have been blocked to a degree by the California Coastal Commission out of petty political vindictiveness (Musk is suing the Commission over it).

In July, as reported in The Hill and The Wall Street Journal, Musk decided that “he will move the headquarters for his aerospace company, SpaceX, and social media company, X, out of California, after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill banning school districts from requiring parents to be notified if their child decides to change their gender identity…

“This is the final straw. Because of this law and others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas. I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children”

The cumulative lunacy of California’s Democrat-imposed laws and policies has consequences. According to IRS data, from 2019 to 2022, this state had the highest level of out-migration of all 50 states, losing 1,071,703 people to other states. California’s loss of 3.5% of its population is exceeded only by Illinois’s 3.7% loss, and New York’s 5.8% loss.

Over that same period, the Adjusted Gross Income of “Blue/Democrat” states declined by $191.93 billion while the “Red/Republican” states increased their AGI by the same $191.93 billion.

The California Coastal Commission (CCC) is a primary reason why our state’s coastal areas suffer from the “BANANA” syndrome: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody. Unlike Oregon’s coastal meccas of towns, housing, state parks and beaches inviting all to visit, even to live, California’s coast is mostly barren and devoid of development. Of course, the do-gooders, tree-huggers and environmental fanatics consider putting the nation’s most beautiful landscapes off limits to homes, businesses and recreation a benefit, not a detriment.

An example of the high-handed, despotic practices of the CCC: Marilyn and Patrick Nollan’s effort to add a second story to their beach bungalow in 1982, for a year-round home. The Commission agreed to grant the Nollan’s building permit only if they consented to give away one-third of their property to the state because the Nollan’s second story would create a “psychological barrier” to the ocean for passing motorists by partially blocking their view.

Suing the CCC for an unconstitutional “taking of property without just compensation,” they won at trial, lost on appeal, and were refused a hearing at the California Supreme Court. In 1987 they were vindicated by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding that the Coastal Commission’s demand for land was unconstitutional and an “out-and-out plan of extortion.” People vote with ballots, feet, and moving vans.