Hard Truths is a monthly newsletter about national, state, and local issues, with (sometimes sassy, other times serious) personal updates from the author – Heather Schmidt, M.PA. Heather is the owner of Heather Schmidt Consulting Services, Executive Director of VC Voter Edge, and a busy Mom to three.
The news, in a few words: I don’t care.
In all seriousness: I do care about the world and all its goings-on. And I also recognize that some of what is going on – at least at the national level – is a “shock and awe” style of events and reporting so as to lull people into a paralyzing overwhelm.
But as I have often discussed at length in the past, it has become increasingly evident that the impact any of us can make at the national, or even state, level is minimal. Therefore what is going on within my own community is taking up the bulk of my attention. And, I suspect, many of yours as well.
Anyway…
National Nonsense
Well, earlier this month, the Democratic Party raked in some predictable wins in special, mostly low-turnout, off-year elections. On the national stage of note was the election of so-called Democratic Socialist, Zohran Mamdami, as the mayor of New York. I’m not sure Mamdani’s win, though, was so much the people of New York believing in his ability to do what he was promising to do (and the truth is, he has virtually no statutory authority as mayor to do many of the things he promised). To be quite frank, it seemed to me more a repudiation of that perv Andrew Cuomo.
Other than those elections, I have to be honest: I have largely tuned the national news out this month. The problem is that they are so obsessed with Donald Trump, including – and especially – the new influencers that make the rounds on Instagram, Substack, Tik Tok… Last week I saw a Tik Tok where the creator argued that if you don’t like Aaron Parnas, you’re antisemitic. First of all, I didn’t realize Parnas is Jewish, second of all I don’t like him because it seems like almost every single post he makes on literally any social media platform begins with the word “Trump.” Gag.
There are so many other things going on around the country, and many of them have nothing to do with Donald Trump. Until the national news gets back to reporting some of that to a regular degree, I’m only minimally consuming it.
I just don’t care about what Trump is doing now. I just don’t.
From the Greatest State in the Nation
Congressman Eric Swalwell is officially running for governor of California, and if his awkward announcement over late night TV was any indicator of how that would go, I would say: prepare for cringe-town. Every time I hear his name, I think back to when Roe v Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, and he posted on Twitter/X that Susan Sarandon – a woman – should “sit down” and “let the real progressives fight for women’s rights.”
A woman should sit down and let the men fight for her rights…
With that being said, barring an even more well known and well liked candidate jumping in the race, I’m going to predict now that he will be our next governor.
The real scandalous news here in the greatest state in the nation is that California is poised to resolve its gas tax woes with a per-mile surcharge on all California drivers.
That’s right. The EV tax break and mandate program that the state has implemented in recent years was so successful that it is now tanking revenues from people no longer purchasing gas at the pump. But that revenue was desperately needed for infrastructure, road repair, and – naturally – hundreds of thousands in bloated administrative salaries and pensions across the various state agencies.
To solve this problem, the state piloted a six month program that was such a success they are now poised to charge all California drivers a surcharge per mile driven.
Make no mistake about it: this is an outright declaration of war against the working class. People that cannot afford to live where they work, because jobs pay absolute garbage, including public jobs, and the cost of living has ballooned out of control with no end in sight – well, those people can just deal with it. A per mile charge will do nothing but punish people who have no choice but to commute to work, but in the end no legislator seems to be willing to acknowledge that reality.
And this would not be the first war against working class people our current leadership has waged: a recent study found the $20 fast food minimum wage that went into effect last year cost the state a whopping 19,000 service sector jobs. These folks do not understand externalities of policy, and they do not represent the interests of the working class. Not in the slightest.
Just Local Stuff
The County of Ventura voted earlier this month on two significant initiatives that most people will rejoice, but at least one presents new challenges.
The first was a policy to significantly and permanently improve permitting processes at the county level. This has become an evident problem in recent years, especially as fires have caused homeowners to re-engage a complex system of red tape and outlandish timelines to rebuild their homes. The new permitting processes that are intended to cut wait times and make things easier for county residents is a win I think we can all get behind.
The other measure, though, is a bit more controversial. At the last County Supervisor’s meeting, supervisors voted to outlaw RV and truck/trailer parking along agricultural areas and other unincorporated lands.
On one hand, this is a significant step towards addressing serious health concerns with people dumping their brown/gray tanks near the land that our food is grown and harvested. It also becomes a liability to landowners, as well as the county, when inclement weather presents flooding or other dangerous conditions in these regions.
However, this is not a solution for homelessness, as the county claims. The county currently continues to have a significantly misaligned cost of living compared to available jobs, and housing remains a problem. The issue is not just housing for poor people either; housing that is affordable for the middle class has become increasingly scarce, with no real movement towards incentivizing developers to bring in housing that serves the true middle and working classes.
Barring people who have RVs, vans, trucks, trailers, or other shelter from parking along unincorporated roads is only going to move them back inland – to the parking lots, the city streets; and towing their vehicles (when it gets to that) will only increase the burden of homelessness, rather than truly help the situation.
The real solution is the development of a truck stop, a public campground, or both. The County obviously does not want to do that – either for land availability, or liability reasons. But those are truly the solution on this issue.
We will see soon enough how these new policies play out.
A Bit On Me
My youngest baby turned 9 today, and my middle baby turns 18 next month. My oldest will be 22 next year. I am both overwhelmed, and grateful, to have made it this far as a mom. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the world we are leaving for our kids is not one ideal for their success.
And I’m not talking about things like climate change or anything existential like that. I’m talking about offering them jobs where they may succeed, and housing they will be able to afford. Neither is there, and no one has a plan to ensure this can be their future.
My oldest daughter is in four year college now, and when doing the loan counseling, her degree was listed as making around $35,000 a year. When I earned a similar humanities degree, just under 20 years ago, the counseling said I would expect to earn $55,000. What changed? Are we being more honest with kids now? Instead of selling them the lies and the dream they can never obtain, or only obtain if they go on to take on additional education and significant sacrifice – well, are we being more real with them so they take seriously the gravity of taking out loans they’ll have to repay? Or have corporations and employers overall learned to extract more from their workers, thereby reducing wages for these degrees? Are there so many people in the jobs economy that some sort of demand inversion occurred, and where demand will increase prices, when it comes to jobs it’ll reduce wages? One thing my dad used to tell me when I worked in the pharmacy and complained endlessly about my job was: better stop complaining, there’s always a mob of people that are outside willing to do your job for less.
I’m no economist or Human Resources professional, so I don’t pretend to know. What I do know, though, is that someone has to fix this, and before it’s too late.
Anywho…
If you celebrated, Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I am grateful for every single one of you.
Heather Schmidt Consulting Services 
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