This Great Ungovernable Country
4th July 2022
Back in 2020, the oozing governor of California, Gavin Newsom, took it upon himself to all but cancel the Fourth of July. Newsom issued a statement encouraging towns and cities across his state to shut down any fireworks shows they might have planned, so as to prevent people from congregating and spreading Covid. The reliably meddlesome Los Angeles County then went a step further, banning displays of fireworks altogether.
The people of LA considered this. They stroked their chins. And they said, “You know what? I don’t think this is for me.” The night of the Fourth, Angelinos sent up so many fireworks that the next day a local authority had to issue an air quality warning.
It wasn’t the most memorable moment in a 2020 that had far too many of them, but it did feel like the most American moment. Here was a wealthy, powerful, almost comically arrogant governor trying to control his people — and those same people just shrugged and went about their business. His status meant nothing to them. That isn’t to say their firework delinquency was a political protest against Democrats or lockdown policies. It was something more innate: that good old-fashioned American willingness to ignore rules we don’t like.