One of those conversations, last night, about what's wrong with California. It's messed up recall election system, decision by referendum, the taxpayer revolt, the state's general cookiness. But you have to wonder whether these are causes of California's ungovernability, or merely symptoms. When an entity is that messed up, for that long, it raises deeper questions. Some states are just not meant to be. Iraq, for example, a so-called nation that can only be held together by dictatorship or occupation, with a government that is simply a cockpit for sectarian interests. Similarly, maybe California is just too big and diverse to be governable. Californians have a common attachment to the beauty of their surroundings, but San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Westside LA, Orange County, and the Central Valley might as well be separate countries. And, in so far as they lack a Californian identity, it's hardly surprising that they starve the state government of funds and authority. Why should Orange County Reaganites, Hollywood moguls, and San Francisco leftists look out for eachother? They have less in common than the inhabitants of most European nation-states. Some territorial units are just not meant to be. California needs, not a recall, but a return to the drawing board.
