“I guess I just wasn’t made for these times.” – Brian Wilson, R.I.P.
California Dreamin’ in LALA Land
Southern California is famous for its delightful weather, particularly along the coast. With sunshine almost every day, low humidity, and a refreshing breeze from the Pacific Ocean, it often feels perfect. However, this beauty comes with significant drawbacks.
Alongside its charm, Southern California grapples with heavy traffic, soaring living expenses, high government taxes, and considerable areas of urban decay, including homeless encampments, which challenge its idealistic image.
The glow of Hollywood’s golden age faded drastically after the tragic murder of Sharon Tate and her unborn child by the Manson Family on August 9, 1969. By that time, Los Angeles was already facing a cultural decline.
In 1964, Brian Wilson began to struggle with his mental health. The Watts Riots erupted in 1965, and by 1967, Pacific Ocean Park, once a competitor to Disneyland, had fallen into disrepair.
The inflation of the 1970s further marred the city’s landscapes, leading to challenges that continued into the 1980s, a decade marked by youth overdoses on drugs and reckless behaviors. Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris captured this dark reality in her documentary, The Decline of Western Civilization.
Los Angeles—often dubbed LALA Land—has long epitomized the illusions of California Dreamin’. Even prior to World War II, it attracted a diverse mix of eccentrics, pyromaniacs, and dubious entrepreneurs.
Take Howard Hughes, for example, whose dreams of aviation often ended in crashes in Beverly Hills. Then there was Griffith J. Griffith, who made his fortune mining but became infamous for shooting his wife. He cleverly managed to reduce his sentence for the offense by bequeathing Griffith Park to the city, preserving essential open space for future generations.
Rigorous Flexibility
In Southern California, cities have developed a peculiar approach to immigration—one characterized by less stringent enforcement and a tendency to overlook undocumented status over the years.
As a child in the late 1980s, I was a student at Encanto Elementary School in San Diego, a mere 14 miles from the Mexican border. Many of my classmates crossed into the U.S. daily with their parents using commuter green cards.
Eventually, I moved to the Los Angeles Basin, where I met my now wife, who immigrated from Mexico City as a child and became a citizen under Ronald Reagan’s amnesty program.
When the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, John Smith and his fellow Pilgrims didn’t concern themselves with formal citizenship. Their focus was on escaping religious persecution and starting anew.
The Ten Commandments presented to Moses also make no mention of citizenship. While this does not negate the importance of current immigration laws, it serves to illustrate that the path to citizenship can often be complex and morally ambiguous.
Rules, after all, were made to be bent. For decades, American borders have been porous, and immigration laws have not adapted to this reality.
Individuals could enter the country without documentation, but little was done to integrate or account for them, leading to significant complications today.
No Papers
President Trump campaigned on the promise to address illegal immigration, emphasizing the need for enhanced border security. However, widespread deportation is now an impractical solution due to the long-standing chaos.
Los Angeles spans vast areas, featuring wealthy neighborhoods with lavish estates in the hills, juxtaposed against the stark realities of the east and south where urban blight prevails.
Numerous undervalued cities stretch east through the San Gabriel Valley and south to Long Beach, filled with residents you might not be aware of, arranged like containers in a shipping yard.
Areas like East LA, Temple City, El Monte, and many more reflect high population densities coupled with impoverished living conditions. For example, Huntington Park’s population now consists of approximately 97 percent Hispanic residents, many of whom lack legal documentation.
A decade ago, Huntington Park even appointed city commissioners without legal immigration status, highlighting the extent of the issue.
With an estimated density of 18,000 people per square mile, one would expect high-rise apartments, yet the reality is overcrowded, substandard housing, with multiple families forced to share small living spaces.
LALA Land is Coming to a Town Near You
Recent ICE raids and the ensuing protests have shed light on a long-ignored crisis.
Protesters often express confusion over their objectives, brandishing flags from countries like Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, indicating a desire to remain in the U.S. Yet, should they not be rallying under the American flag instead?
Some life mistakes cannot be reversed, and decades of neglect create hurdles that become increasingly difficult to overcome.
While targeting Home Depot parking lots for deportations may seem enticing to some, it’s akin to cutting off one’s head to relieve a headache. Moreover, can ICE genuinely manage to deport nearly a million individuals from LA County and upwards of 15 million from the entire U.S.?
The current predicament is undoubtedly chaotic. Yet, politicians often fail to grasp it or seek meaningful solutions.
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently criticized the inaction of political leaders, pointing out:
“This is the result of Democrats and Republicans not being able to come together on immigration reform. We need to know who is in this country, who has temporary working permits, who has permanent permits.”
“For decades, they’ve avoided the topic for their political gain. They are more party hacks than public servants.”
Unfortunately, there is little hope that these political figures will solve the issue anytime soon, which suggests that LALA Land is poised to reach your community.
[Editor’s note: Have you ever heard of Henry Ford’s vision for a city in the South? If not, you might find my recent report titled, “Utility Payment Wealth – Profit from Henry Ford’s Dream City Business Model.” intriguing. It explores how this overlooked slice of American history can lead to wealth. If you’re interested, feel free to get your copy. It’s available for a minimal cost.]
Sincerely,
MN Gordon
for Economic Prism
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