As California Goes, So Goes the Nation - Eventually.

[Sympthsical]

4. I was responding to your title

The old saying "As California Goes, So Goes the Nation" is currently inverted. As the national party goes, so goes California.

Rather than leading the way, California is being infected by the same dysfunction we've been seeing nationally.

The party needs a thorough house cleaning, and if the last ten years aren't ample evidence of that, I don't know what to say. But power, influence, and money are incredibly tricky things to dislodge once comfortable and firmly ensconced. We are literally counting on time to do the turn over work that should be happening organically - particularly in a party that seems to pride itself on being attenuated to the young and the dispossessed. But reliance upon time invites decay.

When people look at what's happening in California and the general response is, "That seems about right," we're probably not doing so well.