Is the 2024 election a turning point in the state of consciousness of the USA voters? As everyone is aware Donald Trump shellacked the Dem’s candidate. Does the trouncing of the Harris/Walz ticket indicate that the American voters have awakened from the semi-coma of 2020? (If one believes that the 2020 election was on the up-and-up, then the 2024 result would indeed represent a true reversal. However, I don’t and I think that the first hint of the American voter’s awaking actually began in 2016.)
This leads me to wonder when the California voters will wake-up. Thus far California is reliably blue, but what has just recently happened may be what is needed to wipe the sleep out of the eyes of Californians. What happened?
From the California Globe:
“On November 8, 2024, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed new special blend mandates for California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The new standards require that refiners produce, and retail gas stations sell, a new California special blend in 2025. The CARB contends that the new special blend is necessary to achieve carbon and methane emission reduction targets.
“By its own admission, the CARB projected that the new special blend could increase the retail price of gasoline by $0.47 a gallon… California regulatory and legislative actions could conservatively cost the California consumer an extra $222.00 to $449.00 a year for regular grade fuel, more for premium. To compensate for the expected increases in retail gasoline prices, the average Californian driving an internal combustion vehicle will have to earn an additional $600.00 to $1,000.00 a year in pre-tax income to “break even” with 2024 prices, depending on the grade of gas they purchase?”
Worse yet, still from the California Globe:
“A study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center found that the CARB underestimated the impact the new fuel standards would have on gas prices. The Kleinman Center expects the price of gas to increase 65 cents per gallon in 2025, 18 cents more than the CARB estimate.”
My question is whether or not California voters will continue to act like sheep and will continue to elect Democrats … or will the actions of the appointed, but non-unelected, CARB be a turning point in California.
One can only hope!
12/2/24