No Sympathy for Blue Model Failure

Walter Russell Mead (Democrat and Obama voter, mind you) continues to astutely dissect the bankruptcy of the "Blue Model".  Here is yet another insightful installment.

"California’s cities have been going bankrupt left and right over the past few years. But what is it actually like to live in a bankrupt city? A new New York Times profile of post-bankruptcy San Bernardino paints the picture, and it isn’t a pretty one...

This is what a blue death spiral looks like. Years and years of unsustainable pension promises, profligate spending and poor fiscal leadership slowly add up until the money runs out and there’s nothing left to pay for the services that keep the city running. Bankruptcy can help get a city’s finances back on track, but it’s extremely difficult to run a city on a shoestring budget, as San Bernardino is now learning.

 Spot on, except for this false note:

It is truly unfortunate that the good citizens of San Bernardino are caught up in this mess. In the meantime, this should serve as a warning to the rest of us.

Wrong.  Citizens get the governments that they deserve.  Years of baldly rapacious and/or malignly clueless governance is the consequence of years of deficient citizen oversight, involvement and vigilance.  Proper civic engagement could have kept this all at bay.  The misfortune befalling the "good citizens" of San Bernardino is their own fault.  Those who didn't care to know or keep an eye out are likely now ruing their decision.  Those who thought it could never come to this or thought it all was a good thing have been proven wrong.  There are penalties for being wrong and there are penalties for not showing up.  It's penalties all around for the good citizens of San Bernardino.  All, fully deserved.