Riva-Melissa Tez

The slow death of the California dream

Thousands of Californians have lost their homes and livelihoods to an ongoing inferno. I write this while tracking the flames approaching my property. For many of us, the fires are both a natural disaster and a deathly reminder of the catastrophic consequences of government incompetence. A government that has promised to protect and serve us has proven itself to be woefully unprepared and grossly inept in the face of crisis. Amidst the Californian ashes, anger and frustration are growing.  The consequences of the Los Angeles fires are not entirely shocking. They serve as a grim confirmation of a long-standing trend. For nearly a decade, California has been trotting down a path of self-destruction, rejecting all affinity for competence in favor of ideological dogma.

california fires

No matter who wins, you lose

For some of us, watching newly minted Republican tech bros giddy at the thought of a Trump win fills us with a painful nostalgia. There’s a sadness but also a burgeoning frustration while reading their posts. A friend recently pointed out that my social media posts seemed “cynical.” Another called to ask if I was OK after I exclaimed, half joking, for the repeal of the Nineteenth Amendment. These friends underestimate the severity of the political blackpill some of us have swallowed. We’re angry — yes! We’re angry because those who promoted all the bullshit — all the diversity, equity and inclusion, all the “woke narratives,” all the infantile socialism, all the petitions to the establishment — are not sorry enough. Many do not even acknowledge their role.

lose trump

Viva Las Vegas?

The West is dying and we are killing her. We’re proud to destroy our own freedoms and repackage failure as democratic progress. We champion our rolling-out of red tape, the bureaucratic creep that strangles a nation’s liberty. The American Dream has been replaced by mass-packaged mediocrity porn, encouraging us to revel like happy pigs in our own meekness.No place demonstrates this demise better than the San Francisco Bay Area. Despite the area’s claims to diversity, it suffocates with homogeneity. Everyone wants to start a company, everyone wants to be a contrarian investor, everyone thinks about everything in exactly the same way. Expensively indifferent, my Palo Alto house had the same architect and unique style as every other house on the street.

Las Vegas