We’ve known for a long time that California is the land of fruits and nuts. Many of us have thought that it would be difficult for them become more insane. But recent actions by the Democrats in Sacramento lead us to understand that there is no limit to leftist insanity. And that shows that the same applies in D.C. As long as Democrats are in power, no one is safe.

The Solons of Sacramento have already passed regulations that will ban the sale of gasoline or diesel cars in thirteen years. But that’s not enough. In four years, over a third of all new cars sold will have to be electric. It doesn’t matter that electrics cost more than gas-powered cars. It just sounds so good and righteous. We’re going to clear all the pollution out of our air!

Low end electric cars start at about $40,000, roughly twice the price of economy gasoline cars. Average EV prices run $63,000. With inflation approaching double digits and paychecks not keeping pace, one has to ask where less prosperous members of society will find transportation. California is big, and mass transit is pretty minimal, taking that option off the table for most. Fortunately, they would be able to purchase used cars. But with the new car market shrinking due to costs, the price of used cars would rise. And who says the California Air Resources Board won’t ban used cars as well?

These are the pincers of the Socialist Scorpion in Sacramento. Plebeians of the public would have less and less ability to control their personal costs. With everything becoming more expensive, out-migration would accelerate. Escape to free states will be their only option.

All this begs a different question. Where will Californians get the electricity to charge up their wonderful zero-emission vehicles? It has to come from somewhere, and solar, wind, and hydro aren’t up to the task. Those “renewables” only provide part of the total energy demand. The rest has to come from nuclear or fossil fuels. With “nuclear” a bad word, coal, oil, and natural gas are the only hope left for keeping the lights on. But even that’s not enough.

California’s regulators have driven Pacific Gas and Electric into bankruptcy, and PG&E has been forced to postpone maintenance on its electricity distribution network. The citizens of the town of Paradise found out how well that worked when faulty PG&E equipment started the forest fire that burned their whole city to the ground. Of course, the fact that California’s forest fires released as much carbon dioxide as an entire year of electric generation is lost on the CARB. Apparently only automotive CO₂ matters.

But somehow Commiefornia has neglected to notice the elephant in the room. Not only is the distribution network failing, the state lacks electricity to distribute. So at present, EV owners are prohibited from charging their cars during peak hours in order to prevent power outages. How’s this supposed to work when the number of EVs jumps eight times? By the way, we haven’t begun to discuss EV battery replacement, rare earth mining, and total process carbon footprints.

A FASTer trip down the slope to third world status is AB257, the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act. It establishes a commission to “establish sector-wide minimum standards on wages…” in fast food restaurants. If the people who voted on this monstrosity had looked north to Seattle, they’d have seen that increasing the minimum wage does two big things. First, humans are replaced by machines wherever a business can make it work. Machines don’t get sick, and they don’t have to be fitted into complicated work schedules. You buy them, do occasional maintenance on them, and that’s that. No payroll taxes. No benefits. Anyone who has been in a fast food restaurant recently has probably seen iPads in place of people at the counter.

Next, when businesses can’t cover the new costs by replacing workers with machines, businesses close. Many restaurants moved out of Seattle when the minimum wage went up. Others just closed up shop. They ran into a fundamental law of economics: You can’t survive forever when you spend more than you make. Banks want their business loans repaid. Employees want their paychecks, and the IRS will pursue you to the ends of the earth to get its pound of flesh.

Why would those on the Left Coast want to eliminate their Carl’s Juniors with this Whopper of a Grand Slam? Why has the California legislature served up this economic Impossible Burger? For a political party that seems to be in favor of the “little man,” something’s a bit out of kilter. Fortunately, Forbes Magazine can supply the answer.

Lots of union contracts have wages and prices tied to multiples of the minimum wage. Suppose that a union laborer has a union deal at twice the California minimum wage of $14 an hour. That means he gets paid $28 an hour, or about $62,000 a year plus benefits. If the FAST Commission decides that fast food workers should get $20 an hour, this worker will get a $13,000 raise. But nobody sees it until the cost of roads, buildings, or whatever else goes up. And even then, very few people will see that it’s due to the wage escalator built into the union deals. Poor folks can’t afford to contribute to politicians, but unions spend mightily on Democrats. Why shouldn’t they? You scratch my back, I scratch yours!

California is the land of leftist graft and corruption. And it will remain so until it collapses of its own weight. Our problem is to stop this process on a national level. As long as one player on the political scene can buy another’s loyalty, we have a “feedback loop.” We’ve all heard feedback loops when the volume of a public address system gets turned up too high. That painful squeal is positive feedback.

Biological systems are designed with negative feedback to create “homeostasis” that protects life. Our constitutional checks and balances are political negative feedback. Without it, America will descend into darkness. We stand on the edge of that cliff. Only patriots can pull us back. The Left wants to push us over.

Ted Noel MD is a retired Anesthesiologist/Intensivist who podcasts and posts on social media as DoctorTed and @vidzette. His DoctorTed podcasts are available on many podcast channels.

Image: Nathan Rupert