From the Economist magazine in London to the Wall Street Journal and even some California newspapers and talk shows, so-called authorities have been telling us for years this state's populist system of letting the people decide major issues has made California dysfunctional, even ungovernable.

A loud hissing contest on California's left political flank began weeks before the state's largest health insurance companies announced the other day they plan to raise average rates by 8 percent to 14 percent for thousands of consumers with individual policies