The real resistance isn’t what you think it is
Eons (and Elons) ago, before DOGE began shaking up the federal government like a $6.1 trillion snow globe, California legislators convened in Sacramento to “Trump-proof” the state.
Two months into Trump 2.0, lawsuits are sprouting like California poppies as Musk dismisses thousands of career employees, dismembers entire agencies, and unilaterally cancels federal contracts, wielding a chainsaw (both literal and metaphorical) to a chant of “waste, fraud and abuse.”
Many of the people who voted for Trump, disillusioned by what they see as a bloated bureaucracy, are thrilled to see any action—good or bad. Meanwhile, Californians who didn’t vote for him struggle to fire up the decrepit 2016 Resistancemobile.
We have a better idea.
In the face of a politics that demeans democratic institutions as slow and ineffectual, the best repudiation is to create a government that’s responsive, nimble and inventive.
It’s in our DNA. As the nation’s largest economy and the innovation capital of the world, we can demonstrate the health of our democracy by aggressively tackling our own crippling crises, hungry competitors, and anxieties that our best days are behind us. Battling Trump at every turn may be cathartic, but it won’t solve the problems that drive widespread cynicism and disillusionment with our institutions.
People respond to results. If we can light the way, our success will echo throughout the world. If we fail, we reinforce troubling calls for authoritarian alternatives.
Turning crisis into a proof of concept
California’s biggest problems are measurable. That means we can also measure success. Take homelessness. We have the largest homeless population in the nation—about 181,000 people, or 28% of the U.S. total. Our rate is more than double the national average and five times Texas’s. Despite billions spent, the crisis persists, fueling perceptions of government indifference or incompetence. The solution isn’t black magic; we must build housing like lives are at risk, because they are.
An avalanche of homebuilding will also help restore California’s middle class. We’ve permitted just over 110,000 new homes per year over the last five years. That number needs to be 500,000. Meanwhile, the median home price tops $861,020, leaving homeownership a distant dream for working Californians.
Then there’s poverty. The headline rate is 12.2%, but factoring in living costs reveals a 15.4% poverty rate—highest in the nation. Yet we treat poverty as an abstract challenge instead of the direct result of unaffordable housing.
All the while, Texas and Florida—our ideological counterweights—are growing faster in GDP, jobs, and business retention. Since 2018, nearly 500 companies have moved their headquarters out of California, many to Texas and Florida, but also to other states like Minnesota, Tennessee and Alabama. Our people are headed for the exits too, symbolized by our loss of a Congressional district after the 2020 census. If we don’t reverse these trends, we’ll watch from the sidelines as others define the future.
For years, legislators have nibbled around the edges of our problems with poll-tested, lowest-common-denominator solutions. That era is over. But the scale of our challenges — and our capacity — lets us flip the narrative.
Competence is the best politics
We already know what works. Leaders must step out of comfort zones, keep it simple, and shape a healthy, agile 21st-century democracy. Here’s a five-point plan:
-
- Build housing — fast. Fast-track permitting, upzone aggressively, and stop CEQA abuse that stalls development for years. If a business can relocate in months, housing shouldn’t take a decade to approve.
- Treat homelessness like the existential crisis it is. It’s a public health and quality-of-life emergency, not an unsolvable jigsaw puzzle for interested groups to chin-stroke over. Half-measures won’t do; we need large-scale action.
- Tackle poverty by lowering housing costs. California doesn’t have a jobs problem — it has a cost-of-living crisis. Housing costs destroy incomes, turning middle-class wages into poverty-level earnings. Until we get serious about making housing affordable, every other anti-poverty effort is just window dressing.
- Make it easier — not harder — to do business. It’s not just taxes pushing companies away—it’s bureaucracy, ineptitude, and a maddening lack of urgency. Other states move heaven and earth to lure away our employers, then throw a party for the businesses when they sign on the dotted line. We can’t be America’s hardest place to operate.
- Show courage. We can’t afford slow, risk-averse policymaking in a fast-moving world. We should be leading in digital public services, streamlined permitting, and responsive governance. If we can’t move quickly, we will lose to states that can. More importantly, we’ll lose the hearts and minds of Californians who see Trump and Musk’s bull-in-a-China-shop methods and say, “Well, at least they’re doing something…”
The Clock is Ticking
California doesn’t wait for permission; we set trends. Yet inertia and bureaucracy are turning us into what our critics claim: a place where big ideas die under a mountain of process. That must end. The best way to silence voices longing for strongmen is to make democracy work — fast, effectively, unapologetically. We have the talent, resources, and blueprint. Let’s stop talking about what’s possible and prove it.
If California can’t show the world the future, someone else will — and it may not be as bright.
Tracy Hernandez is CEO of the New California Coalition. You can learn more at newcaliforniacoalition.org