Experiential Learning, California & Civil War

An anonymous commenter wrote this insightful observation a few days ago:

Here's one of the more common errors of The Right. The Left does not lack for intellect. What it lacks is wisdom. "Common Sense". They do not learn from any mistakes. Not their own, and not from those of others.

As the commenter went on to explain, that is why you see the left so wedded to socialism, despite its unblemished track record of failure. I think there is a lot of truth to his or her observation. And I thought of it again today when I saw an article on legislation about to be approved in The People's Democratic Republic of California,

California is a state that the left has pretty much destroyed over the past three decades. The state now stands $20 billion in the hole and on the edge of bankruptcy. The state is hemorrhaging business and residents, fleeing our nations most oppressive legislation and some of its worst taxation. It is, as George Will described it recently, a unionacracy - a state run by and for the public employee unions. One would think, given that the Sword of Damocles is hanging by a final, frayed thread over the state, that the legislature would learn from their past mistakes - that they would adopt austere fiscal restraint and start furiously cutting regulations and taxes to create a better environment for business. Right . . .

California, long a trendsetter for eco-friendly living, is breaking ground again this week. It's set, as early as today, to adopt the nation's first statewide green building code, which environmentalists say is not tough enough, and is also considering paying residents to cut their energy use. . . .

Just amazing. This isn't merely ignoring past mistakes, its full head buried in the sand acting outrageously crazy ignoring past mistakes.

I don't particularly care if California goes into bankruptcy, that union contracts are broken and a receivership takes over the purse strings. I don't care if California can't even get junk bond ratings for its bond issues over the next decade. But on the flip side, should Obama and friends opt to send our tax dollars to underwrite this failed far left experiment in modern socialism in order to protect Democrats from the consequences of their outrageous acts, then its time for a full on blood in the streets second civil war.