Elder: What if a Conservative Governor Took a Page Out of Gavin Newsom's Book?

By Larry Elder September 21, 2022 at 1:51pm

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces no real opposition for re-election in November, is on a rampage.

The most recent unconstitutional legislation he has signed includes an anti-First Amendment law requiring social media platforms to “publicly post their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment and extremism on their platforms,” according to The Hill.

Newsom issued a statement: “California will not stand by as social media is weaponized to spread hate and disinformation that threaten our communities and foundational values as a country. Californians deserve to know how these platforms are impacting our public discourse.”

Would this “hate and disinformation” pertain to Democrats like former Vice President Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Stacey Abrams, former President Jimmy Carter and Jan. 6 committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, all of whom have questioned the legitimacy of elections? Lost by Democrats?

Newsom also signed anti-14th Amendment legislation that requires publicly held companies headquartered in California to include on their board at least one member of an “underrepresented community,” defined as “an individual who self-identifies as black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native, or who self-identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.”

Someday, California may elect an equally unconstitutional conservative governor presiding over an unconstitutional conservative legislature. Consider the bills that such a governor could sign:

To address concerns about “weaponized” social media, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts must be 50 percent conservative.

A 2006 study found that liberal college professors outnumbered conservative professors 12 to 1, with liberal history professors outnumbering conservative professors 33.5 to 1. Another study found that virtually all the political donations made by California professors go to Democrats and left-wing groups.

At UCLA, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California, half of the professors’ contributions in 2019 and 2020 went to five left-wing organizations: ActBlue, Biden for President, Biden Victory Fund, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. And of the 2022 commencement speakers at the nation’s top 100 universities, according to a study by Young Americans for Freedom, only three were conservative.

So how about a law mandating that colleges hire an equal number of liberal and conservative professors, a law mandating that professors split their donations evenly between left- and right-wing political organizations and politicians, and a law mandating that college commencement speakers be divided equally between liberals and conservatives? Also, 50 percent of K-12 public school teachers must be conservative.

A report from The Federalist found that Democratic White House press corps reporters outnumbered Republican reporters 12 to 1. Then-New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet admitted, “The left as a rule does not want to hear thoughtful disagreement.” And the Los Angeles Times last endorsed a Republican for president 50 years ago.

So let’s have a bill mandating that California newspapers hire an equal number of liberal and conservative reporters, have an equal number of conservatives and liberals on their editorial boards, and alternate between endorsing a Republican and a Democrat for president.

Let’s turn to Hollywood. Movies frequently feature conservatives and greedy capitalists as villains. So we need a “good guy/bad guy” law that mandates Hollywood heroes and villains be equally divided between liberals and conservatives, and equally divided between capitalist villains and Marxist/collectivist/socialist bad guys. No more than 50 percent of villains may be conservative. And, of course, 5o percent of hero characters must be conservative.

These are but a few ideas that await California’s right-wing governor and a conservative supermajority in the state legislature.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

Submit a Correction →