Much of America has been transfixed by the horror of the wildfires obliterating vast swathes of Los Angeles. This is a human tragedy of the highest magnitude, and many are, quite naturally, asking how a disaster like this was ever allowed to happen.

Unsurprisingly, every key public official in California whose responsibilities extended to preventing such a catastrophe from occurring—ranging from the Governor to Mayor to Fire Chief—has been busily deflecting blame. Apparently, empty reservoirs, inadequate zoning restrictions, fire safety budget cuts, and an allergy to using controlled burns to mitigate the build up of highly combustible underbrush had little to do with creating the conditions for an unimaginable firestorm—to hear them tell it.

Instead, according to the narrative that is now taking shape with the assistance of compliant journalists, “global warming” is the culprit to blame for the flames now scorching one of America’s largest cities.

Let’s roll with that for a moment and see where it takes us.

Presuming that human activity since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800’s has fundamentally changed the environment in such a way that wildfire risks in California have worsened over time in state well known since its founding for a propensity toward periodic drought, high winds, and dry brush, it seems reasonable to ask whether this concern should have led to governmental actions that ensured more than adequate resources would be available to combat any blaze. If you are worried that global warming is creating an increased fire risk, shouldn’t this translate into far more trained firefighters, the creation of strategic firebreaks, extraordinary efforts to hoard precious water in dedicated firefighting reservoirs, and the pre-positioning of resources in order to avoid any delays in response time that might allow a small fire to grow out of control?

Unfortunately, it seems that very little thought was given to planning for fires that the climate change alarmists deemed inevitable, which leads to only two possible conclusions: sheer incompetence or ill intent.

Symptoms of incompetence, which in a best case scenario could perhaps be deemed an incredible lack of forethought, seem to abound in this situation, and this goes far to explain why so many elected and appointed officials are spinning the situation so furiously to avoid having their careers come to a crashing halt. In much the same way that Mrs. O’Leary’s poor, old cow became the scapegoat for egregious governmental and urban design failures during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, it is likely that global warming will provide some meager political cover while every official and unofficial effort is made to impede and obstruct a thorough investigation of the many planning deficiencies and mistakes leading up to this inferno.

However, again presuming that California’s leaders are actually convinced that climate change is real and poses real threats to life and property, it is reasonable to wonder if they hoped a wildfire emergency (although certainly not one as large as this) would provide an excuse for yet more government interventions and spending that would further empower California’s grasping and onerous control of their economy and residents, both the legal citizens and the many, many illegal immigrants who now have free healthcare—while Los Angeles burns.

I would love to live in a world where I need not entertain these kinds of suspicions, but a recent series of “crises” in America—the Great Recession brought on by (yet another) stock market bubble, so-called institutional racism, and the Covid-19 hysteria—have provided the justifications for larger and more expensive government agencies and programs that are quickly bankrupting America. 

We are now being “saved” right into the poorhouse thanks to a recent series of emergency spending measures that have caused price inflation and poverty, although very few government officials seem to be losing their homes or frequenting food banks—what a surprise. Unfortunately, we have been forced to learn the hard way about the duplicity and mendacity (not to mention sheer greed) of the poobahs who claim to have our best interests at heart, and the parade of political insiders enriching themselves on taxpayer money has become too obvious and disturbing to ignore any longer.

In just a few days we will have a new President and new leadership throughout our federal government, which is all occurring with a promise to drastically shrink the size, powers, and cost of bureaucracies than rule Americans like disdainful and dysfunctional potentates who are certain they are beyond either reproach or accountability. Perhaps the wildfires now destroying homes, businesses, and human life in California are the perfect symbolic coda to the four long and horrid years of the Biden administration, which has established a record of incompetence, propaganda, graft, censorship, and stupidity that will not (if we are lucky) ever be equaled in our lifetimes—all while managing to torch our country’s safety and security at every opportunity.

Although we might be only grimly hopeful that the institutional legacies of official lies and idiotic ideologies that have weakened and divided America can be quickly reversed, we should not forget that we live in a nation that has rebounded from far worse throughout our history and emerged stronger each and every time.

We can—and will—rise from the ashes.