California, in all her glory, left Gold Rush pioneers awestruck at the sight of breathtaking mountains and fertile fields. Since the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, California has developed into America’s wealthiest and most famous state. Industries like Silicon Valley and Hollywood contribute significantly to America’s economy and culture, rendering them indispensable.
Despite that, the last two decades have seen California’s reputation and standard of living decline. The state is now synonymous with homelessness, high taxes, and an exorbitant cost of living. Now, its cultural effect on America is largely perceived as corrosive, not constructive. Due to these facts, conservatives have largely abandoned California as a leftist lost cause.
But it wasn’t always like this. California used to be America’s beacon for ambition, innovation, and progress. The recent desecration of California left America without a truly equal replacement, setting American culture and the American Dream at a standstill. If conservatives want to reinvigorate the American Dream and build a new American century, they need California.
In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s, California was flooded with American settlers after the territory was ceded to the United States. The presence of gold and fertile land made California a popular destination for pioneers searching for a new life out West. Yet it was only in the 1920s that California began to shape America culturally and economically, when oil was discovered in Los Angeles and the film industry emerged. These new enterprises contributed to a large SoCal population boom, attracting many from the Midwest.
Beginning in the 1930s, the nearby Central Valley experienced an agricultural boom due to the migration of farmers from the Plains and the introduction of the Bracero Program, a large work program for Mexican migrants. In the subsequent decades, further north, the Bay Area became the center of a technological revolution that would fundamentally change the world. Due to preexisting defense programs in the Bay Area, combined with the presence of Stanford University, semiconductors utilizing silicon led to the invention of the modern computer, smartphone, and internet. Companies like Apple, Intel, and Google were born in Silicon Valley.
The next few decades saw people from all across the country moving West to find their share of the California miracle. These migrants weren’t just drawn to these new industries but also to the other amenities California had to offer. The state’s lax regulatory structure attracted Americans from the Midwest and the Plains to open businesses. The state was a domestic land of opportunity for Californians and non-Californians alike. On the family front, California bolstered a world-class education system, coupled with low-cost housing, which made the state a paradise for raising a family. Not to mention California’s weather, which is a largely sunny and Mediterranean climate year-round, perfect for raising kids.
During the succeeding decades, California’s industries changed America for the better. Hollywood and the film industry became an American staple, and many aspiring young actors moved out West to test their luck, including a young man named Ronald Reagan. Disney, through its cartoons and amusement parks, inspired kids with original stories that remain cultural icons today.
As C.S. Lewis said, “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.” Disney stories, employing thematic motifs like “good vs evil,” elicited courage and imagination in the minds of a generation of kids. Hollywood produced epics like Ben-Hur and action hits like Top Gun, both of which remain popular movies to this day.
Up North, Silicon Valley only expanded with hundreds of startups that employed thousands of Americans. Silicon Valley became synonymous with technology, and students all across the country aspired to work there. Many of them started their own companies, including a young Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who, in 1976, created the first Apple computer out of Jobs’ parents’ garage. California was the place for young dreamers to realize the American Dream. These many industries are not just American industries; they’re Californian industries that shaped America.
Starting in the 1990s, California took a turn for the worse, bringing the rest of the country down with it. State and local governments enacted regulations that made it harder to build housing or start a business; additionally, the State government began hiking up the income and corporate tax rates. And yet, state infrastructure continued to crumble while homelessness became more prevalent. Businesses started to move out of California in the 2020s. Chevron, Tesla, and Oracle all moved east to Texas or Tennessee as California became an increasingly unfriendly place to do business. To top it off, the people of California are stuck with high housing prices, crime, and one of the worst education systems in the country. Hollywood started pushing an identity-obsessed agenda rather than making good movies that appeal to all Americans. They watered down characters and storylines for DEI initiatives, in addition to appealing to the Chinese market rather than the American one. The industry became a tool for the Left to attack traditional norms.
Despite all this, we should not lose hope.
Republican candidates in California did exceptionally well in 2024, including President Trump. Now, Republicans must play the long game to free the Golden State from its progressive shackles.
The consequences of a battered California are that America lacks a replacement for cultural and technological innovation. As amazing as states like Texas and Florida are, there’s a reason they never had the boom California did. They lack the perfect climate, the pioneer reputation, and the institutional structures of Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Let’s face it, Californian industries are not entirely moving east, so the only alternative is for the Right to focus on California and restore her to her former glory.
