yes, that's been california 'environmental' policy in a nutshell: take the smallest problem, pass an uncritical law based on manufactured sentiment, back-slap all around, and put hat in hand to elicit political reward. plastic bag bans, lawn watering restrictions, prop 65 warnings, bike lanes to nowhere, even leafblower bans (as much as i hate the pollution i endure from these twice a week) are all examples of empty feel-good legislation.
it avoids taking actual political risk and spending real political capital on things that matter (and against moneyed interests) while still reaping political rewards. (this is incidentally why i've started to think that we should be able to vote 'null' for a given office, meaning no one should be in it for the upcoming term.)
it avoids taking actual political risk and spending real political capital on things that matter (and against moneyed interests) while still reaping political rewards. (this is incidentally why i've started to think that we should be able to vote 'null' for a given office, meaning no one should be in it for the upcoming term.)