[WkndTriathlete]

California is popular because of its _climate_ and despite all of the batshit insane policies that have been legislated.

I'm gradually approaching retirement age and looking for a place with better climate to retire to, but everywhere I've visited - including California - has a lot of negatives that outweigh the positives of where I currently live, which (by a lot of metrics) has some of the worst climate in the nation. Despite all of that, I might still put up with additional crap elsewhere to live in a more moderate climate. Don't underestimate climate as a powerful decider for where people live.

[wwweston]

Climate is indeed one of the reasons it's popular. That's not even remotely a counterargument against the premise that most of the state's problems are primarily from popularity rather than policy.

And "batshit policy" shouldn't be taken seriously as a charge without serious specific policy criticisms.