Whalen: California’s sacred contract breached by virus

Silicon Valley is used to being a few steps ahead, and COVID-19 is no exception. Six counties around San Francisco Bay have been under a “shelter in place” order since March 16, three days before the rest of California and ahead of the rest of the United States. From my perch in Santa Clara County - home to Stanford University, Sand Hill Road and an astonishing number of Teslas per capita - the lockdown has been a refreshing reminder that, behind the valley's glittering exterior, we're still human after all. Respirator masks are long gone; hand sanitizer is more valuable than equity in The Next Big Start-Up, and tech geniuses and high-flying venture capitalists, it turns out, need toilet paper as much as the next guy.

What's different is the palpable indignation. It wasn't supposed to be this way - not here, at least. Not in the Golden State. The coronavirus has put California in breach of contract.

We Californians all know the terms of the deal. We sign up for high taxes, unaffordable housing, congested freeways and head-scratching nanny-state governance - like the state-mandated sign hanging in my garage to remind me that exhaust fumes can be unhealthy.

In exchange, we're guaranteed certain rights and privileges. We get unfettered access to the great outdoors and the robust exercise - and perfectly sculpted physiques - that come with it. We get a shot at fame and fortune. We get the freedom to pursue nonconformist lifestyles and an unusual degree of self-expression without anyone getting all judgy on us.

COVID-19 has disrupted that arrangement. Californians can venture outdoors only as long as they keep 6 feet apart, and the state has implemented a “soft closure” of state parks and beaches to discourage the nature lovers. Dreams of fame and fortune have evaporated as the stock market has plummeted, and major film studios have canceled releases and halted production. Even the porn industry is looking to shut down.

And the expressive and judgment-free lifestyle? Sure, Californians can still get their cannabis fixes. But good luck finding a tattoo artist or hair stylist willing to turn you into your own piece of alternative art. And in downtown San Francisco - supposedly a citadel of woke tolerance - Californians of Asian descent report being cursed at and spat upon because of China's links to the virus.

Now that the coronavirus has forced California to renege on its part of the bargain, how long can Golden State residents be expected to uphold theirs? Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is already suggesting that “social distancing” should remain in effect for another two or three months. Californians may be laid back, but they will only go with the flow for so long - and three months is pushing it.

Newsom certainly shouldn't extrapolate from our tame response to the “shelter in place” order so far. The practice is working in great part because it's still a novelty. More important, a “March miracle” has delivered unseasonably cool and wet weather statewide that has kept people indoors. Three months from now, though, sunshine will be abundant and the beaches and mountains will be calling. The most threatening contagion at that point might be cabin fever. What will happen if Californians decide to flout the state's edict and assemble outdoors?

Fines and jail time are possible, though Newsom, like his Florida counterpart, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, probably doesn't want to invite the spectacle of hauling his constituents off the beach. And if precedent is any guide, the penalties might not matter anyway. Five years ago, in the midst of a record drought, then-Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, called for a 25% reduction in California's water use. Rancho Santa Fe, one of the state's most exclusive communities, responded with a 9% increase. In a town where one resident paid $2 million to have the Rolling Stones play a private concert at a local tavern, wealthy Californians decided government fines were a small price to pay to safeguard their investments in perfectly maintained and verdant landscaping.

Even if coronavirus edicts are met with open defiance, the rebellion will last only as long as the pandemic does. The more serious effect of the crisis may be a permanent shift in the relationship between Californians and their government.

Most of the time, when everything is going smoothly and the California bargain is being upheld, state government is a quaint afterthought. This is especially true here in Silicon Valley, where libertarian executives prefer to keep government at arm's length and where innovative technology, never business-as-usual politics, is the perceived answer to every problem.

But now that the Golden State has defaulted on the terms of the California Dream, the state's lawmakers are receiving an unprecedented amount of scrutiny. Suddenly, what's decided in Sacramento is relevant to everyone, not just those who have kids in public schools or who rely on the public safety net.

Californians may not like what they see once they pull back the curtain on their elected officials: a lack of bipartisanship and common sense, and a tendency to kick any difficult decisions into the ballot-initiative process rather than actually doing the work of legislating.

No wonder our politicians say their goal is to return California to normal as soon as possible.

Bill Whalen is the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Fellow at the Hoover Institution. From the Washington Post.

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