Who could save state?

For most of the past 100 years, Kotkin says, California was a spectacular success in virtually every respect: unsurpassed natural beauty, and a world leader in agriculture, energy, entertainment and technology. But its greatest asset was human aspiration.

Now California is in the grip of a dominant ruling class that has no productive use for science, and seems determined to return the place to its pre-settlement condition no matter what harm that inflicts on the average Californian.