City Journal in California: Resisting Californication

Throughout its history, California has stood as a beacon of opportunity and a paragon of cultural influence. The state once symbolized the dreams and desires of millions of Americans and migrants around the world. But even as ill-considered public policies hurt its economy and drive people away, the Golden State hasn’t lost its power to set society-wide trends. Lawmakers and advocates in the state have fashioned a new “California model”-a cultural politics oriented around group-based patronage schemes, radical race and gender ideologies, and tolerance of antisocial behavior. Is California’s vision set to go national? And what would that mean for the United States?
Please join us in Santa Monica for a panel discussion moderated by City Journal editor Brian Anderson and featuring two authors from City Journal’s new special issue, “Can California Be Golden Again?” Christopher Rufo will talk about the state’s identitarian agenda in public institutions, including a new ethnic-studies curriculum whose excesses he’s chronicled at length, and how to fight back against it. Abigail Shrier will address how the state’s policies, including the decriminalization of prostitution, are harming young women, and, as her groundbreaking reporting in City Journal reveals, turning the Golden State into the wrong kind of sanctuary.

[@kimstringfellow6493]

Loud applause for you both. Thank you!

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

My kids are grown and married now. If i had a young family here in Cali, I’d move.

[@foxtrotjulietbravo5536]

We have had two sets of our family moved out of California to get their children out of that state.

[@jburma]

29:58 Chris Rufo's story about trying to transfer his non-profit out of California reminds me of the aptly titled "Hotel California" which has the line "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."

[@foxtrotjulietbravo5536]

"Living Kafka." Even though I like The Eagles better.

[@erpollock]

My nephew and his wife and large family have lived in LA for years. But they are part of a religious Jewish community, with their own schools which teach Jewish religious texts and all secular subjects. The children grow up in a separate environment, protected from all these weirdnesses I read and hear about. My nephew has a long time teaching job at the school. I wish I knew how they avoid contact with the rest of LA.

[@erpollock]

What Chris is saying exactly what my nephew and niece have in LA - their own religious schools, their own religious community, their own neighborhood. Their children have no smartphones, no computers except for parents' work. They don't own TVs in their homes. They have done in a Jewish religious context exactly what Chris Rufo has created in his Catholic community.

[@chubsteriffic]

You can ignore reality…but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. - Rand

[@chubsteriffic]

We are in an Epistemological War. Epistemology is a ten cent word. It simply answers the question: “How do I know it?” Trans activist answer: “I Feel It.” Nothing is True…simply because you Feel it is True. Feelings do not have Primacy…Feelings are Outputs. This is the flaw at the heart of this harmful philosophy.

[@foxtrotjulietbravo5536]

It may be an epistemological battle but the war is good vs. evil.

[@nathanngumi8467]

Great discussion!

[@erpollock]

I regularly buy various medical supplies for my personal use. I started using a company in California. After one order, the second order included a $10 tax on medical supplies which had just been imposed. I've never experienced any tax on medical supplies, which I've ordered from various companies for the past 40 years. I am no longer using a California company to buy medical supplies. I have never heard of taxing medical supplies. Do they tax aspirin? ibuprofen? I'm going back to one of the companies in another state, hopefully in Florida. I will not support California's corrupt government.

[@shawnlucas4]

audio is super low

[@cristinaegas]

Thanks for teaching me the amazing California madness..no values anymore.. Courage to resist you Inteligents panel.

[@EY_YES]

watching from Toronto 🍀🌟 blessings to all thoughfull peacefull law abiding free people💎👑☝

[@erpollock]

What Chris Rufo is saying "all the capable people flee" echoes the theme of Atlas Shrugged. How did Ayn Rand foresee so much? I thought her book was a page turner, but of course, totally extreme. I read it at 16. In the intervening years (I'm retired) I no longer think it is extreme, only uncannily prescient.

[@DAWN001]

The first time I read the book, I didn’t think it extreme, but was surprised that in the novel people were fleeing from the US. In my mind US was the place where the capable people fled toward, from places where collectivism and conformity dominate.

[@annleland6422]

＂American Culture Revolution ＂！yes, I will order it when it’s out.

[@foxtrotjulietbravo5536]

The audience member, a psychologist, said he's a big fan of Dr. James Lindsay. Lindsay recently addressed the European Parliament with a brilliant assessment of what "woke" is. The video is worth every second of viewing and sharing.

[@jwf2125]

I just preordered it as an Amazon Kindle ($15) and on Audible ($27 or one credit).

[@beat1riz]

Good

[@chubsteriffic]

California appears to have figurative barbed wire to keep producers in their borders. Someday a la east and west Germany there will be actual barbed wire.

[@kpaul4041]

The moderator doesn't seem to be listening to the guests....too worried about the next question!

[@tun6006]

Last guy asking a question....still wearing a mask and took 2 minutes for a preamble. We're never gonna win with people like him.

[@simonboland]

Firstly, I'm surprised there's so few views for an important topic. 40:15 the part about rejecting CRT and non-rigorous disciplines. I'm not quite sure what is being advocated. Is it stopping courses in these universities, i.e. kill off the would be students in these areas? Whilst it would be an improvement, I'm wondering what precedent this would set. What happens when the next government comes to power and says "this stuff in the bible is no different. A man walked on water and turned water into wine. Theology classes, religious seminaries should be banned too." Hence you can see the state getting into regulating what subjects are being given all over the place.

[@strnbrg59]

Dry clean story hour??

[@ShopSmallUS]

Millions of conservative South Asians and conservative Latino Americans live in California but cannot vote (or do not vote). Less than 25% of San Jose, CA, residents voted in last year’s elections. The few who vote are primarily the radical left extremists . This is a devastating disparity between those who live in CA and the those elected officials who “represent” the people of CA.

[@richardzellers]

Please, no statements, just questions. THEN, a few seconds later the first woman makes a long winded statement. F'n people!

[@jorgelopez-pr6dr]

Quo vadis, California?

[@robleahy5759]

Chris, how is your non medical back pain management going, oh, it's not.

[@hugojames85]

What - do you mean not watching that shit TV series with David Duchovny, even though you might be tempted to do so?