STEVE HILTON: In LA, you can smell the smoke and feel the rage. California can change. It starts now

There's fear, anxiety, and pain. When will they get these fires under control? What if the wind picks up? What if my neighborhood is next?

For those who have been evacuated: when can I go back? Why won't they let me get my pet? Or my medicine?

Worst of all, for those who have lost their home, or in the small but tragically growing number of cases, their loved ones, utter despair. And a sense that the people in charge are not responding with the urgency, energy -- or frankly, empathy -- we expect.

And that brings us to the other emotion that's so palpable in L.A. today: rage.

Rage at a governor who, when confronted over the shocking revelations of dry fire hydrants and empty reservoirs, waved his arms around and said, "ask the local people."

But these short term failures of preparation and response pale into relative insignificance compared to the long term failures that have brought us to this point.

Now, with the catastrophe in Los Angeles, everyone can see how badly things have gone wrong.

Every aspect of the wildfire crisis was either caused by, or made much worse by, Democrat policies and Democrat politicians.

Of course they try to blame "climate change." But other places with similar climates and similar geography don't seem to suffer the same way.

Money that should have been spent on fire prevention was diverted to ideological obsessions that do nothing to reduce wildfire risk, like EVs.

We keep hearing about "drought" -- but in truth it's mostly man-made. We have all the water we need: we just don't collect it, store it and get it to the right places.

And underlying everything, the insane rules and regulations, the crazy nanny state, the endless armies of bureaucrats and busybodies making it impossible to get anything done, to build the housing and the infrastructure we need.

Their 'green' bureaucracy has even slowed down or blocked vital work like burying or insulating power lines that spark wildfires! How is that good for the environment?

It's time to stop all this nonsense. It's time for common sense policies and competent government.

That's what I'm focusing on. My California policy organization, Golden Together, has brought together leaders from business, the faith community, experts in firefighting and prevention, to develop positive, practical ideas for how we help people right now, and make sure we do the right things to help recover and rebuild quickly.

Pastor Jack Hibbs from Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills is mobilizing churches and places of worship to help displaced families and to support our brave (and exhausted) first responders.

We need to sweep away ridiculous rules hampering relief and recovery efforts -- for example, absurd 'climate' regulations that make it impossible to bring in emergency generators from out of state to provide power where supply has been disrupted.

After the Northridge earthquake in 1994, then-Gov. Pete Wilson -- a Republican -- tore up the rules and put in place clean-up and construction contracts that helped rebuild the Santa Monica freeway in 66 days.

I spoke with Gov. Wilson. We've included his suggestions in our policy recommendations, along with many practical ideas from homebuilders and entrepreneurs.

It's time for change in California, and this is the first step.