Think about the age-old Peanuts illustration in which Lucy always convinces Charlie Brown to kick the football, only to yank it away at the final second, making Charlie tumble down. This portrayal reminds us of situations where individuals fail to learn clear lessons – even under excruciating circumstances. Well, this is what California’s Democrats constantly do as they walk into traps laid out by the Republicans regarding criminal matters. Despite their virtually unchecked power – controlling the Legislature, governorship, and every other constitutional office – their overconfidence often leads them into falling prey to the Republicans’ strategies.
The most recent debacle involves Assembly Bill 379, a bill aimed at combating sex trafficking. The initiative, proposed by a centrist Democrat, is heavily endorsed by the Republican party. The Democrats in California have astonishingly turned down an attempt to push a strategy to increase prosecutions for individuals soliciting and buying sexual services from 16- and 17-year-olds. This has ignited tensions within the Democrat ranks, forcing Governor Gavin Newsom to intervene.
One wonders why Democrats thought such a decision would slip unnoticed. Predictably, Republicans leveraged this move to depict Democrats as lenient on crime, even ready to turn a blind eye towards adults exploiting teenagers. In California’s current legal framework, buying sex from those aged 15 or below is a severe crime, while the same act involving 16- or 17-year-olds is treated less seriously. Pillaring Democrats, Republicans pointed out this inconsistency, exploiting it to their advantage.
James Gallagher, the Republican minority leader from Yuba City, inquired, ‘Don’t 16- and 17-year-olds deserve the same level of protection as any other minor in relation to child prostitution?’ Leftists alleged that this bill could be exploited as a means to target specific minority groups and LGBTQ+ community members. This defence appears weak given the legislation solely deals with prostitution and not identity politics.
Progressives made one possibly valid argument: punitive actions could fall inappropriately on an 18-year-old involved in a relationship with a 17-year-old. While it did sound strange since the bill targets prostitution, the legislators took note of the feedback.
Consequently, lawmakers reinstated harsh sanctions for solicitation but included an amendment allowing its application only when the offender is three years older than the solicited teenager. Most aspects of this proposed legislation that focuses on rehabilitation programs for those guilty of soliciting sex remain uncontroversial.
Governor Gavin Newsom saw through the Democrats’ miscalculation: ‘The law should label all those who solicit minors the same – as felons, regardless of the supposed victim’s age. Period.’ Newsom, ambitious enough for a presidential run, wouldn’t want Republicans casting him as week on sex trafficking and child prostitution on national television. It’s baffling that Democrats couldn’t comprehend this reasoning from the get-go.
Looking back to 2023, Senator Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, proposed a bill that would have categorized child trafficking as a ‘serious felony’ under the state’s infamous three strikes rule. Democrats wouldn’t publicly oppose it, but the Assembly Public Safety Committee sneakily blocked it. But when public outrage followed, Democrats had to capitulate, causing the governor to endorse and finally sign Senate Bill 14.
Democrats have repeatedly burned themselves with Proposition 36, the 2024 voting manifesto that passed with a colossal 68% of the vote. The Democrats have employed a range of tactics to avoid an outright opposition to anti-crime proposals. They’ve deferred passing anti-crime bundles and craftily inserted (and later removed under pressure) malicious amendments intended to erode approvals for Prop. 36.
The Democrats also attempted but had failed to get alternative anti-crime resolutions on the voting poll in their plot to confuse voters. While some of their reservations about mass imprisonment may hold water, their trivial approach towards criminal offences and the public’s concerns related to crimes frequently backfire.
Many Democrats, obsessively devoted to an erroneous perception of criminal-justice reform, stubbornly resist taking steps to enhance penalties, even for deserving cases. If they sought a more constructive approach, they could, for instance, ensure that victims of crimes don’t get entangled within the justice system unnecessarily.
In April, CalMatters questioned if Democrats are veering more towards the Republican advisory due to consecutive debacles. The answer was delivered in May: California Democrats are still glacial learners, stubbornly bent on continuing their pratfalls.
And so, this comic world of California politics rolls on, with the Democrats playing out our poor Charlie Brown, always falling for the Republicans’ cunning Lucy and her football pranks. They are all too eager to repeat their mistakes, driven by their sense of invincibility, in an unending loop of political follies.