Thank goodness the intolerant politicians of California will allow San Diego State guard Matt Bradley and his teammates to play in the Final Four in Houston on Saturday even though the state maintains travel restrictions on Texas.
Photo:
David J. Philip/Associated Press
Recently this column noted the good news that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is beginning the process of normalizing trade with the United States. Now it seems that the government of California is also considering the idea of tolerating the opinions of people in other U.S. jurisdictions.
For years California has been banning state-funded travel to states that choose not to mimic California law on transgender policy and other issues. The Golden State now has nearly half the country on its banned list. But believe it or not, it turns out that trade embargoes and blanket condemnations of the political choices made by fellow U.S. citizens are not necessarily productive. And now even California politicians are beginning to realize it.
To be clear, Golden State pols still want to condemn Americans with whom they disagree. But it looks like the boycott may soon be coming to an end. Adam Beam reports for the Associated Press from Sacramento:
Wednesday, state Senate leader
Toni Atkins
announced legislation that would end the ban and replace it with an advertising campaign in those states that promotes acceptance and inclusion for the LGBTQ community. The bill would set up a fund to pay for the campaign, which would accept private donations and state funding — if any is available.
As this column has noted, the ban has been burdensome and insulting but the state has devised ways to ensure it’s merely an empty virtue signal when there’s real money at stake, e.g., when UCLA joins the Big Ten athletic conference.
Thank goodness a work-around was devised to enable a California-based team to compete for college basketball’s greatest prize this weekend. Mr. Beam reports for the AP:
The San Diego State University men’s basketball team will play in the Final Four on Saturday in Houston, a state that is on the no-travel list. The team got around the ban because the NCAA, not California taxpayers, is footing the bill for the team’s travel.
Of course college athletes aren’t the only ones who need relief from an ill-advised effort to inhibit interstate travel, which the author of the new bill to end the boycott seems to appreciate. A press release from California Senate President pro Tempore Atkins, a San Diego Democrat, states:
As the years have passed, the travel ban has had the unintended impact of further isolating members of the LGBTQ+ community in those states, and hampering Californians from being able to conduct research, business, and engage with all people from those states.
This isn’t exactly Hamilton authoring Federalist 11, but we’ll take what we can get from Sacramento. Godspeed, Toni Atkins!
As for another prominent California politician, Democratic Gov.
Gavin Newsom
seems to be getting a head start on the new policy of merely signalling displeasure with other viewpoints rather than boycotting. His upcoming travel appears to include a sort of condemnation tour of socially moderate states, in which he will pretend that voters outside California are choosing to live under unbearable tyranny.
Maeve Reston reports for the Washington Post:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is launching a new political organization that will take the Democrat to red states across the country as he pushes back against restrictive abortion laws, loosened gun regulations, curriculum restrictions and other initiatives Republican elected officials are spearheading.
Newsom, who is widely viewed as a potential future Democratic White House contender, plans to travel to “states where freedom is most under attack,” he says in a video, to meet with like-minded activists, students, candidates and elected officials who he said are often fighting a lonely battle in places Democrats don’t typically visit. He is setting out on his first trip this weekend to Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama…
As the tour rolls along, perhaps he’ll also have time to scold people in the other 20 states California now officially scorns.
At this hour the motivation behind the condemnation tour remains unclear. Ms. Reston reports:
Newsom insists that he is not thinking about running for president and he has looped in White House and Democratic officials during the planning stages for his new group. He said the work would complement President Biden’s expected reelection bid. The Democratic National Committee has enlisted Newsom as part of a “national advisory board” of younger leaders who will travel and speak on the president’s behalf.
He said he was hesitant about launching the group, because he didn’t want it to be perceived as a launchpad for a future White House run.
***
Reader Mail
Here are a few of the responses to Thursday’s column about political activism by scientists:
The scientists who submit papers to Science and Nature are (almost) all on federal grants or tenured faculty or both. Their greatest concerns are the NIH and NSF budgets. Unlimited student loans (with forgiveness!) don’t only fund their own education, but (more important) the institutions they work for. Could any scientist in virology stand up against Fauci, who wielded the NIAID grant budget as his own personal cannon? Or Collins, NIH head? The threat of arbitrary cancellation was too great to withstand.
These organs of science became political as soon as the ink dried on the legislation authorizing these agencies.
Alan Goldman, M.D.
***
The definition of science is the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.
A scientist is someone who subscribes to this, so if one doesn’t stick to science, he/she is not speaking as a scientist.
Audrey Skinner, M.D.
***
Mr. Freeman will host “WSJ at Large” this Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET on the Fox Business Network. The program repeats at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
***
James Freeman is the co-author of “Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts and Bailouts at Citi” and also the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival.”
***
Follow James Freeman on Twitter.
Subscribe to the Best of the Web email.
To suggest items, please email best@wsj.com.
(Lisa Rossi helps compile Best of the Web.)
***
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
