It’s finally worked. California moved up its presidential primary, again, for 2020, and it is getting more attention from candidates and the media. 

The question is whether such attention is a good thing. 

California is in the process of living up to the old saw that when God wants to punish us, He gives us what we want. 

And more media attention, in our deranged era, is not something that most people or places really want. 

It means dealing with more accusations, more lies, more conspiracy theories. Indeed, the state is going to be misrepresented in so many different ways that there’s little chance California can survive a close primary with its reputation intact. 

Already, we are contending with Trumpians spreading misinformation about our homelessness, our immigration, our wildfire prevention, and our democracy. Now, with Democrats running loose around the state, we are contending with progressive falsehoods about our economy, our leading businesses, and our governing system. 

In a more Democratic state like ours, some of those falsehoods will stick and end up misinforming Californians, who already have too much misinformation about how our state works—and doesn’t. 

Among the most common falsehoods out there are that Prop 13’s distortions of budget and democracy can be cured with a split roll ballot measure (it can’t) and that our state needs its unions to have more power (they have too much political power already).

The best piece of elections is that they can engage people in civic life. But the messages being put forward by Democrats are so negative—that the system is corrupt—actually push people away from engagement. 

The California presidential primary can’t be over soon enough.