His Majesty The Emperor, er, California Governor (at least for now) Gavin Newsom has the power and authority to put thousands upon thousands of people out of work with an utterance and the stroke of a pen, but when it comes to putting them to work it requires negotiation?  What happened to all that power and authority?  It is clearly not being used to train inspectors.

The news out of California this morning:

Gov. Gavin Newsom conceded Tuesday that he has not yet struck a school reopening deal with legislators and school groups after having said it could arrive last week.

“We are making progress and it is stubborn, the negotiation, and we continue to negotiate,” Newsom said, adding that “on schools, we still have more work to do.”

Frankly, I don’t know who to cast as the villain here.  On the one hand we have the teachers unions and their incredible self-centeredness,  On the other hand we have Newsom and “legislators” that lack the wherewithal to tell those teachers and those unions that the time has come for them to get off and get back to work.

Of course, what you are witnessing here is pure political patronage.  The electeds (Newsom and the “legislators”) were elected with a great deal of help for those teachers and their union.  Meanwhile the restaurant workers, retail workers, hospitality workers, travel workers, and on and on and on are simply not that well organized.  I guess in the end the electeds and the union are simply a cabal – a single villain of multiple parts.

Back in September the Brookings Institute said:

The pandemic, which could conceivably have brought the country together, has instead contributed to our growing political divides.

Gee, ya think?  That was 5 months ago and it has gotten worse and worse since then.

It is nothing short of despicable that the pandemic, a real and deadly problem, is being used by many – with a complete lack of concern for those suffering with covid and the limitations it creates – as a means to some unrelated political end – despicable.  The concept of public service seems now completely dead, at least in California.

And somehow it is not comforting to know that it can get worse.