Dear J-
It’s already looking like a bad fire season out here in California; after the fires — sufficiently vigorous last year to shut down both of the north-south Interstates running out of San Diego (I-5 and I-15, although thankfully not at the same time), spring brought mild rains and a bumper crop of the scrub now turning tawny all over the hills. Northern California, which traditionally gets more rain and milder weather, has already been smoldering for the past three weeks.
We seem to have remarkably short memories or perhaps stubborn personalities: the camera lens inevitably finds its focus on the plucky survivors vowing to rebuild as many times as it takes. Were it our child who we witnessed putting their hands in the mousetrap and getting their fingers pinched repeatedly, we’d inevitably advise them to stop or at least forcibly remove the mousetrap from reach. Yet here we are, building houses without pause and government turns a blind eye hoping that they can make the money back on property taxes without ensuring that the infrastructure is built out enough to support all the corners of their far-flung, ever-expanding empire.
I’m never sure if it’s my jaded observation or the latent liberal in me that sees preferential treatment for business everywhere. Think about it: isn’t there something frightening about an entity trailing its own army of lobbyists and lawyers, able to leap legislation and taxes in a single bound, and driven to make money for the sake of making money. Ah, but it’s Friday and thus time to chase away those thoughts.
Mike
Tags: california, corporation, fire, hills, plucky, rebuild, scrub, super-citizen, survivor
