Have you ever considered just how many advantages the state of California has over most states, and yet, it's become the state that people can't wait to leave? Silicon Valley. Hollywood. World-class universities. Ports that drive global commerce. Farmland that feeds the nation. Nice weather. On paper, California should be the envy of the union. Instead, it's hemorrhaging residents, collapsing industries, and producing some of the worst academic results in the country. So what's gone wrong, and who's responsible?
CNN's Fareed Zakaria laid out the wreckage of Democrat one-party rule in California with stunning candidness for that network. "California is one of the most dynamic places on the planet," Zakaria said. "It has Silicon Valley, Hollywood, world-class universities, extraordinary agriculture, ports, talent, and natural beauty. But it is a case study in how a rich society can spend more and more while producing less and less of what its ordinary citizens need."
It gets worse.
Since 2000, the state's population has grown by roughly 15%. But general expenditures shot up more than 200%, from $78 billion to about $248 billion. Per-person spending jumped from about $2,300 to $6,300. The state workforce ballooned by more than 50%. Does anyone actually think California government has gotten 200% better over the last 25 years?
The housing crisis is a catastrophe of the state's own making.
From 2021 to 2024, the Los Angeles metro area, home to nearly 13 million people, issued only 118,000 building permits for new homes. Atlanta, with about half that population, issued 163,000. California's regulatory maze made building too hard, too slow, and too expensive. Just look at the aftermath of the Palisade wildfires and how people can’t even rebuild their homes because of red tape. That’s California for you. There’s a reason the state has lost a net 1.9 million residents to domestic migration over the past seven years. For generations, people moved to California to chase a dream. Now, middle-class families are leaving because they can't afford one.
Education tells the same story.
California has doubled per-pupil spending since the early 2010s, pushing it well above the national average by 2023. Despite all this extra spending, the results in the 2024 Nation's Report Card are bad news. The state is now 43rd in fourth-grade math, 39th in fourth-grade reading, 36th in eighth-grade math, and 38th in eighth-grade reading. In California, more money equals worse outcomes. That's the Democrat governing model.
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And then there's homelessness. California spent $24 billion on the problem over five years. In 2024, the state hit a record high of nearly 200,000 homeless people. A 3% dip came the following year, which is hardly a vindication after that level of spending. Zakaria noted that the state's "expansive, expensive and elaborate homelessness aid complex has not proven to solve homelessness in any significant way."
Even Hollywood has gotten the message that California is no longer the place to do business. As Zarakaria notes, film shoot days in Los Angeles crashed from 36,792 in 2022 to 19,694 in 2025. Film, television, and sound jobs fell by nearly 30%. Motion picture employment in LA County dropped from about 142,000 at the end of 2022 to roughly 100,000 two years later. California's high taxes, costs, and regulations drove the work to Georgia, New Jersey, Toronto, London, and Warsaw. Michael Linton, who ran Sony Entertainment, told Zakaria the big studio lots now look like ghost towns. "Los Angeles is becoming a sunny version of Detroit," Linton said.
For our Democrat friends, rest assured, that’s not a compliment.
Make no mistake about it, this is what decades of unchallenged one-party rule produces. "For years, Democrats in California have governed without any real competition," Zakaria said. "The recent primary results suggest that even in deep blue territory, voters are restless. They're not becoming Republicans, but they are asking a reasonable question. Why does a state with so much money, talent, and promise make life for ordinary people so hard?"
💥NEW: CNN’s Fareed Zakaria *DELIVERS BRUTAL TAKEDOWN* of California’s “FAILING MODEL OF GOVERNANCE”💥
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) June 14, 2026
“The frustration is real and JUSTIFIED… it is a case study in how a rich society can spend more and more — while producing less and less of what its ordinary citizens need.” pic.twitter.com/ZkirZH1kZx
The answer is obvious. Tribalism has handed California Democrats a permanent free pass, and until voters stop reflexively pulling the Democrat lever and start demanding results, the decline will continue right on schedule. There’s a saying that as California goes, so does the nation. But, in reality, it’s a cautionary tale of what happens when left-wing ideology runs unopposed long enough. What California's Democrats built is a warning, and the rest of the country would be wise to heed it. And even CNN gets it.
And that’s bad news for Gavin Newsom and his inevitable presidential bid.
