California the unfree

Governor Gavin Newson has a lot of nerve proclaiming his California the "freest" state. Instapundit links to an article that lays out California's actual reality:

In a run-up to what is likely to be a 2024 presidential bid, California Governor Gavin Newsom hit upon the bizarre idea of boasting in commercials that California is America’s true “free” state.

Part of his ad campaign is to attack Florida — currently run by Newsom’s possible rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Yet, with the most burdensome regulations and high tax rates, Newsom’s California is arguably the most unfree state in the union.

In return for these steep costs, the state’s public institutions, infrastructure, and services are among the country’s worst.

California’s once-vaunted freeway system is near the bottom of all state comparisons. California’s Highway 99, which runs the length of the Central Valley, is one of the deadliest roads in America based on miles driven.

Over half the nation’s homeless crowd the state’s major cities. One-third of America’s welfare recipients have flooded into the state. A fifth of the resident population lives below the poverty line. Well over a quarter of Golden State residents were not born in the United States.

California public school test scores consistently fall among the bottom 10 states. San Francisco has the highest per capita property crime rate in the country.

Only in this weirdly Orwellian timeline can people declare up to be down, black to be white, and bad to be good. California is free? My ass. Let's put that shithole state up there with all the other Western regions that are going full-on totalitarian, whether we're talking about Canada, Australia, or even certain sectors of the UK. And hell, half of my own country is the same way. California is not alone. Can it be saved, or should it be abandoned? And if you abandon the cancer, aren't you just letting it metastasize?