The erstwhile “Land of Milk and Honey” is now the land of syringes and human fecal matter on the streets. Homelessness is rampant. Fires burn. Power has been shut off to hundreds of thousands of people. Perishables are spoiling. Darkness reigns in too many areas.

The similarities between what is now occurring in parts of California and what is happening in Venezuela, albeit on a larger and more desperate scale, are many and chilling.  Or should be. Venezuela is another former paradise, the onetime jewel of the Caribbean. It, too, has gone figuratively -- and literally -- dark. The necessities of life have become scarce, though it sits on the world’s largest pool of black gold. Though the nation also possesses large reserves of natural gas, bauxite, iron ore, diamonds and gold, people have resorted to eating zoo animals -- and their pets -- to stave off starvation. Power is often scarce, potable water, too. Millions have fled the country altogether. All of this misery and privation has been brought to Venezuelans courtesy of years of Socialist rule.

And now California, too, grows dark. And for many of the same reasons. Its massive homelessness problem has been brought about by government mandating rent and price controls and tolerating, even subsidizing the drug addiction lifestyle on the street. The state has essentially sanctioned massive drug use by coddling abusers. Gas and electricity, and therefore most other things, are much more expensive than in other states due to the state's incredibly restrictive environmental policies. California also has the biggest gap between the highest income earners and the lowest of any state in the union. The state’s government has refused Pacific Gas & Electric’s petitions to perform controlled burns to prevent accidental fires.

Drug addicts living in a BART subway passage at Civic Center Station, San Francisco

YouTube screen grab

California, ironically, is the home state of Ronald Reagan, who once proclaimed it to be, “Morning in America.” And he made it so. Sadly, Democrat-run California is now experiencing “Darkness at Noon.” If Democrats should win the presidency and the Senate in the 2020 national elections, it will be “Mourning in America.” Possibly forever.

Reagan warned us: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” The formerly Golden State is showing us that this is indeed true. He now lies in state in Simi Valley, fires raging around him just days ago, waiting in silence to lead us back to that shining city on a hill, if only we believe in ourselves more than we believe in rule by establishment elitists.

Reagan led us out of the abyss once before, a time of high inflation, high unemployment, high interest rates, and low morale. “Malaise,” as it were. Before taking office, Reagan stated: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” This is certainly true of the crisis facing California today.