California Dreamin’ – About Sane Government

Everything begins in California. Fresh air comes from the Pacific Ocean and we are the first ones to foul it for the rest of the country. We were the first state to institute “right on red” as Woody Allen famously pointed out in Annie Hall. We started the tax revolution with Prop 13. We also loaded our prisons with our “three strikes law,” which puts a person in prison for life for stealing a slice of pizza. More recently, we’ve decided to build a high- speed rail from nowhere to nowhere and we’ll spend $39 million to save the delta smelt, a tiny fish that few people have ever seen. Finally, the California legislature is considering a Homeless Bill of Rights, which was not based on anything James Madison has drafted. A word of caution to non-Californians – “this could (will?) happen to you.” In this encore episode, Bob speaks to Steve Greenhut, vice president of journalism at the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity and a frequent contributor to Reason Magazine. California’s going down. Will your state be next?