Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor by default (which is about as good as it gets - you might come from a dysfunctional family, in California we come from a dysfunctional state) in an election that should never have happened. Bad government taking it's marching orders from their wallet which is full of corporate cash. (using 'corrupt' before corporate as many do is really redundant). Saying the state government of California 'sucks' is an insult to all the governments everywhere else that only suck.
We're just happy to have Florida and Texas out there who seems to exist only to make Cali look good in comparison.
there is whole group of wealthy people who through media manipulation* sell fiction to the masses so that both of their candidates get nominated, that way they always get their guy elected. These groups of wealthy people are the ones who have been choosing a path for America since the Constitutional Convention** at least.
But, there is a saving grace. That is wealthy people distrust each other, and almost never agree. So sure it works that way, its' possible to see it. But there is more going on, starting with the fact that for about (at least) 30-35 years now (going back to Carter, this is what he was really dealing with) the systems have become so complex, so unwieldy and so vast that they are no longer manageable. And by that I mean that the tools of management: planning, logistics, modeling, forecasting and all that, no longer seem to work. They have not been working for a while now and it's really showing. It's showing here, and in Europe and just about everywhere else but China (but we don't care about those places so we don't notice.)
There is no doubt in my mind that people (high ranking people who actually pay attention to this stuff) are very afraid
* Carter was really the first to really get kicked out due to it. That's when the hate, smears and lies of right wing talk radio came on line. Just look at what was posted - and frequently is - I also remember gasoline lines and "odd-even rationing" - which was widely interpreted as a fumble on the part of the Carter Administration - fumble how? I remember that it was a hella lot better than no system and waiting in line for over 15 hours for gas when Nixon was President. That go round was much worse, much more mismanaged, but somehow gas lines and oil crisis are all Carter.
** - The first real seminal 'history' book by an American Academic historian (as opposed to old rich white guys who did it as a hobby) is considered to be Charles and Mary Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution in 1913.
