The Journal has been in a tizzy about states’ rights for about the past ten days. On December 9 they launched their states=growth mantra, with “growth “ naturalized as  only economic growth, however unequal. Only the states are the instruments of “hope and change” (Dec. 10). Right-to-work states show higher per-capita income growth than states with “thuggish” “monopoly union power”. (Thus glossing over lower wages and more income inequality in these states). Singapore, with no capital gains tax, thrives, while tax-plagued California dies. Singapore, that bastion of democracy. States having Obamacare shoved down their throats are mere “serfs”. (Dec. 13).

However, California, the nation’s most populous state, is the reverse of this pro-growth mantra, thanks mainly to CALPERS, the state’s pension fund. CALPERS “and California” are “arms of the public unions”. (Dec. 14).  CALPERS, with its “police power”,  “strong-arms” citizens and municipalities to get it’s way. On Dec. 16, the ever-demonized “monopoly labor unions” of California were blamed for the federal deficit, and for undermining “tax equity and economic growth”. Class warfare merges with geographical warfare: the good folk of Knoxville, Lubbock and Orlando suffer  because privileged fools in San Francisco rob the federal kitty via tax deductions.

Interestingly, the Journal  is sounding distinctly pro-choice when it comes to right-to-work laws:

The best case for the right to work is moral: the right of an individual to choose.

Now where have we heard that phrase before?