By Hector Barajas
Californians have lost trust in their leaders, and it is easy to see why. People feel powerless because politics has become a game of double standards: one set of rules for those in power, another for everyone else.
Consider the recent controversy over former Vice President Kamala Harris. Though she is a private citizen, worth millions, and set to earn even more from her book deal, taxpayers were being forced to cover her security while she promoted that book.
At the same time, many of the very leaders who excused this decision have spent months condemning the White House for deploying the National Guard. When federal officials used those troops to protect government buildings, reduce crime, or assist immigration officers, critics blasted it as an abuse of power. Yet those same voices had no hesitation when Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass diverted police officers from crime-plagued neighborhoods to guard Harris’s Brentwood home.
Even the police union called the move absurd: “Pulling police officers from protecting everyday Angelenos to protect a failed presidential candidate who also happens to be a multi-millionaire… is nuts.”
What infuriates people is not just the waste, but the hypocrisy. Leaders bend the rules when it suits their allies and weaponize outrage when it does not. The message to the public is unmistakable: accountability is for others, never for those on our side or those who are politically connected.
This pattern is not new—it repeats itself. A decade ago, many of the same politicians and interest groups who fought to keep redistricting in the hands of lawmakers instead of voters are back at it again.
Today, they are rushing to push through new maps, fast-tracked behind closed doors with no public input. When asked who drew the lines, the politicians simply say “no comment.”
The result is as predictable as it is outrageous: maps so purposely partisan they strip citizens of the redistricting power they voted to create and hand it right back to the politicians and their party insiders. Sacramento politicians have hated losing the ability to draw their own districts ever since voters took it away, and they will spend whatever it takes to get that power back.
And it comes with a staggering price tag. Governor Gavin Newsom is forcing a special election estimated to cost more than $230 million, while California faces a $20 billion deficit and is making deep cuts to health care, public safety, and emergency services.
The rush job means there will be no public hearings, no real debate, and no time for review. Ballots are being printed, mailed, and delivered in less than a month because they do not want Californians to have time to ask questions or even understand what is happening.
Politicians claim this is “about protecting democracy.” Voters know better. It is about protecting their power. No one seriously believes they will hand authority back to an independent commission a few years from now. Once power is seized, it is seldom surrendered.
The Capitol Annex Project is another example of this arrogance. What was sold to the public as a $543 million renovation has now exploded to more than $1.1 billion. While taxpayers shoulder the cost, legislators will enjoy private hallways shielding them from the public and the press.
It gets worse. KCRA reported that more than 2,000 people tied to the project are bound by nondisclosure agreements. NDAs for a taxpayer-funded project raise only one question: what are they trying to hide? Instead of transparency, Californians get secrecy. Instead of accountability, insiders get perks.
The pattern is the same as with redistricting—decisions jammed through behind closed doors, no public input, and benefits flowing upward while families facing higher costs are told to “tighten their belts.”
These billion-dollar backroom deals send a clear message: government is no longer serving the people.
This is why cynicism runs so deep. People see the system for what it has become: rigged to protect insiders and punish everyone else.
A healthy democracy depends on competition, accountability, and transparency. Without them, power becomes a shield for the connected and a weapon against the public. The Harris security debacle, the redistricting power grab, and the Capitol Annex secrecy all reveal the same truth: California politics is no longer about service; it is about self-preservation.
And Californians are right to be angry.
Hector Barajas is a communications strategist who advises companies, associations, and campaigns on public affairs and policy issues. He is the founder of Amplify360 Inc., a strategic communications firm, and a frequent commentator on politics, legislation, and Latino issues in English and Spanish-language media.
