Responsibility crisis: How California leadership failed families with LA fires

The tragedy of the recent fires in Los Angeles is breathtaking and impossible to wrap my heart around as a California born and raised mother who was evacuated from her forever home at 4am on January 8th.

My heart hurts. I’m furious. I’m praying. It’s a crime that I came out unscathed (so far). I’m carefully searching for answers, preparing for the next wind of a particularly dangerous event. My own children ask me scary questions and I answer them with false confidence that it’s okay for everyone, but that’s something only parents know.

How did California’s leaders fail families so badly? They traded time-tested values ​​of responsibility for empty trends of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” I did.

I don’t believe in politicizing tragedy. especially this Unfortunately, however, some tragedies are exacerbated by political motives and actions (or rather inactions). As of this writing, it is estimated that the damage has exceeded $250 billion and 24 innocent people have died, so now is the time to ask questions and find solutions for the future of our children. It’s time to be cautious in planning.

California politicians didn’t start the fires. they made them worse

We summarize some of the priorities for taxpayers that California and Los Angeles have documented in recent years.

• Putting tampons in boys’ restrooms in kindergarten through high school schools in the name of “inclusion”
• Public library promotes “Drag Queen Storytime” for children
• Ban on controlled burns and proven forest management to “protect wildlife”
• Hundreds of talented firefighters and first responders fired after refusing coronavirus vaccine
• Reduce essential law enforcement officers through the “Defund the Police” Initiative
• 95% of the state’s record rainfall (2023-24) will flow into the ocean without being properly stored in reservoirs.
• Prioritizing LGBT activism, sexuality, and gender over competency in hiring for chief safety positions

You can smell the smoke and feel the anger in LA. California can change. starts now

Was the fire inevitable given the circumstances? Of course. However, DEI-driven priorities and a lack of accountability from allied leaders have failed to alleviate the carnage. As Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and even the man who allegedly oversaw the countywide emergency alert system during the disaster shamelessly demonstrated, there was no mitigation of the carnage. It mistakenly repeatedly warned 10 million people to “evacuate now.” (“I’m sorry, I messed up,” I heard him say on the radio. At least he admitted it unlike others.)

My own teens are more responsible and understand the impending consequences than our elected officials. According to reliable reports, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power previously drained the city’s second-largest reservoir near Pacific Palisades. Failure to notify county or city fire department.

Mayor Karen Bass abandoned the city under surveillance and traveled to Africa Despite the National Weather Service warning of unprecedented and dangerous fire conditions on January 3.

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Years of budget cuts in priority areas, such as Newsom reportedly cutting more than $100 million from fire protection in 2024, continue to deplete resources and reduce potential costs like the one we are currently experiencing. Exacerbating large-scale destruction.

Large fires are not unexpected in California. All the evidence shows that our top leaders are making irresponsible choices that are not rooted in hindsight, current events, or fact-based predictions. As a mother who constantly tells her children to think ahead, I’m furious.

As parents, we can hold our leaders accountable in public and ask our representatives to review and reverse failed policies. But more importantly, we must raise our children to understand the importance of responsibility, value merit, and fear the consequences.

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We need to stop thinking about parenting that there is no wrong or right. The “you do it” philosophy in schools must end. The obsession with abandoning competency-based standards and skills in education and the workplace and checking boxes based on sexuality, gender, and perceived inequality must die. Responsibility and accountability are fundamental to maintaining a free, functional and safe society. (This is one of the basic principles for creating PragerU Kids.)

California’s leadership was a failed family. Blatant irresponsibility and DEI-focused priorities have now proven to be accomplices in the physical, mental, and spiritual destruction of hundreds of thousands of people, with no end in sight. Not on this California mom’s watch. Teach your children before it’s too late.

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