California's problems have much to do with our dysfunctional constitution, which can be much too easily amended with ballot initiatives. Further exacerbating the problem are prohibitions within the constitution on limiting the way lawmakers collect and spend revenues. Added to that a supermajority is needed to even pass the state budget.

A good primer on the systemic problems with California's governmental system can be found in an article by California Supreme Court Justice Ronald M. George, published in the San Francisco Chronicle, November 1, 2009.

All you blowhards who "hate" California so much would do well to educate yourselves.

Is our government silly and capricious? Yes, and only a change in key components of our state constitution can remedy that. Do we have illegals here that don't belong? Absolutely. Is this a difficult state to do business in? From a tax perspective, it is. But we are also a state of innovators for the future and we have a rich history. I dare say if California did not exist (and I hear many comments about how it should be "walled off" or "exterminated") the country would be a less vibrant place for it. Go ahead America, try to do without California.