There's a good
piece in the NYT about what's wrong with state government in California, but here's the best sentence (and the one before it):
"The initiative process that he championed has contributed to the near-fatal weakening of the legislature, and has created prodigious opportunities for manipulating and mismanaging the state's political business. Legislators have been reduced to diddling uselessly in Sacramento while various interest groups routinely bamboozle the electorate with proliferating ballot initiatives that are poorly written, often contradictory, and nearly always bad law."
Worth the $4.00 for home delivery (less if you get the electron-based version).