Newsom is furious about homelessness in California. But who is he mad at?

Recently, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his plan to fight homelessness in California, including the concept of mental health courts. What struck me was how righteously angry he was at the lack of progress in dealing with this issue. After a minute I began to wonder, whom is he mad at?

Newsom was just completing his first four-year term as California’s governor. Was he mad at himself? Was he upset that he hadn’t done what he said he would do and was taking it out on himself?

Maybe he was mad at the legislature, which has a supermajority of Democrats. They can do almost anything they want to do and have certainly voiced concerns about the homeless problem but have done little or nothing to effectively deal with it.

Maybe he was angry with the cities. That is where the homeless are.  Since every major city in California is run by councils and mayors that are Democrat, perhaps he is angry at them for not doing enough to solve the problem.

Maybe he is angry at the people of California. After all, they elected him, the legislators and all the city governments that have done little or nothing to find homes for the homeless. Is he mad they haven’t elected people who will solve the problem?

You would think the voters of California would also be angry about this. When you talk to most Californians, they are unhappy with homelessness, gas prices, crime, lack of water, electrical outages, cost of housing and inflation.  But when it comes time to vote, they vote as if everything is fine and wonderful. The governor, the legislator, city and county governments are the ones who have the resources and power to fix these problems. They have been in charge for a long time and very little has gotten better.

Yet we just reelected the same people.

What does that tell you? It shouts loudly that these problems really aren’t that important and aren’t much of a concern at all. It’s like we are all “California dreaming,” seeing that mystical vision of what our state used to be — if we just be patient, it will all get better and so just kick back in the sun and relax.

There is that old cliche that the road to insanity is to do the same thing time after time expecting different results. Cliches come from real events. We are living in one. As long as we keep electing — maybe not the same people — but the same philosophies, time after time, we are going to get the same result.

Ultimately, it is our responsibility and Newsom should be mad at us!

Richard R. Clapp lives in Cathedral City. Email him at rclapp75@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Who is Newsom mad at when discussing homelessness in California?