Last year, California wildfires destroyed 13,000 homes . Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced: “We are 100% committed to getting this neighborhood rebuilt again.” Gov. Gavin Newsom echoed that, saying his officials were “responding to it at scale, with efficiency . . . addressing building codes, permitting issues, and moving forward to rebuilding.” Great! It sounded like bureaucrats would get out of the way and let fire victims rebuild quickly. But no. Not when the government is in control.