If Only The Government In California Would Shut Down
Hugh Hewitt > Blog
Thursday, October 2, 2025
It is a beautiful early fall morning. The usual commuter traffic drives by. The birds are chirping, the sun is rising and other than the complaining and kvetching on Facebook, I would have no idea the federal government is shutdown. Hmmmmm…
Even with things that are a seeming big deal, things happen:
Blount County, Sevier County, the cities of Gatlinburg, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Pittman Center, Cocke County, the State of Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, the State of North Carolina, along with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, have been working together since last week on a plan to provide financial support to make the Great Smoky Mountains National Park fully operational during the federal government shutdown that began on Wednesday.
Oh my goodness. Fascinating, isn’t it? In the face of the federal “shutdown” some places roll on their backs and act like helpless infants – and some places prove the federal government irrelevant. It just makes one wonder how necessary all this government is. Which brings me to California.
The slow pace of reconstruction after January’s fire disaster has touched off a political tempest in Malibu, prompting the resignation of the city’s volunteer rebuilding “ambassador” and his suggestion — along with some other rebuilding activists — that Mayor Marianne Riggins “consider gracefully stepping down.”
The controversy brings to a boil a conflict that has been simmering for months over what Malibu residents say are overly onerous rebuilding requirements. Some 720 structures in the city burned down in January, but just 69 have received initial plan approval and only two have obtained building permits, allowing them to begin construction.
And that dear friends is just Malibu – it’s not the Palisades, it’s not Altadena – just Malibu. As I explained way back when, California is a jurisdictional and bureaucratic nightmare. There are different governmental “stakeholders” (I am learning to hate that buzzword) in Malibu than in the Palisades or Altadena. As the tweet that alerted HotAir noted, “This is just unacceptable, but voters in LA simply aren’t holding their elected reps accountable.” Simply put, they do not know who to hold accountable given how terribly complex things are there.
The irony is so rich here. Not only is a federal government shutdown being used as permission to proceed by local Tennessee governments – those various governments are cooperating to make something good happen rather than acting as an obstacle to something good happening. This gives California a couple of options 1) shutdown and get the heck out of the way or, 2) work together and DO SOMETHING. Either way things get better. I seriously doubt either option will be chosen and the status quo will hold.
Government can work, it’s about the people in it, not the government itself. Which makes the fact that Gavin Newsom is the current Democrat frontrunner for POTUS truly, truly astonishing. His record of failure is immense – and growing.
