I had the pleasure of traveling to California last week, a place D.H. Lawrence once described as “crazy sensible” because its people think about “just the moment: hardly as far ahead as carpe diem.”

Lawrence was no electoral sage, but he accurately diagnosed how yielding to short-term political pressure produced major problems for the Golden State. Its self-preservation, however, requires a much broader perspective. The state desperately needs to reform its political culture. It can limp down its current path toward fiscal bankruptcy – or alter course and save itself.