This Ayn Rand quote seems to come up more and more:
“We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”

I find this really true, even today. Oregon is also just along the same lines. In fact, the koolaid up here must be the same as down there, since a bunch of them have drifted north. I have one Kalifornian next to me, he has totally destroyed 2.5 of 20 acres with 250 alpacas (the other 17.5 is in trees, which they will eat, if nothing else is provided, but they keep them sorta fenced in). The land is all dirt and manure, and for 3 years the environmentally sensitive heros of the DOA here have sent them letters telling them they are in violation of Federal and State law. An no one does anything. The other Kalifornian idiot thinks he is the King of the Beasts, and runs a Pulse Jet engine out here is the country, just so he can put 100 db of noise in your kitchen (in violation of State law and the State Constitution) so he can prove to you HE is in CONTROL. He gets away with it because even though it violates the State Law, they laid off the 4 people in the state who enforced it in 1996 and never rehired them (the children, the children, must come first, even when there is a budget surplus). So the State tells me I can sue him. And Oregon is one of the worst states for taxes (54% to govt!!!!!) and the tell me I have to sue the idiot to get the law enforced?!!! No, Kalifornia would serve us all well if the San Andreas really did split open and they had it as an island. Maybe the rest of it could be decontaminated or something... and the Loons of Oregon can go back home....ack!

Having worked many summers in those same environs where the writer so blithely went, I can testify as to the fruitfulness of those same fields all those years ago. Now, it is as if some evil genius has made a home there and blighted the country of its former glory. The dichotomy of the very poor and the ultra rich juxtaposed against each other in a land which should be so productive is heartrending. Unfortunately, when things fall apart, we are the ones who must fend off the rampaging hordes who come streaming from those places. And, unfortunately, many of them will die because I will not surrender what I have so they can live.

It is sad and what perplexes me is the lack of acknowledgment by our state that current policies are not only ineffective, but encourage what has become status quo...I think the powers at be may pay attention when the state can no longer support the masses due to the flight of taxpayers and job creators exiting CA.