When I moved to California a few years ago I drove all of I-40 and the second we crossed from AZ into CA the roads went to shit. Worse than literally any other state's stretch. You could hear the difference. I could go on at length about about why CA seems to lack the kind of civic life I have found in other states, but I'm biased as hell and have a very limited perspective.

I was really struck by the idea of "veto points" -- basically, how many different groups can derail a project. There seems to be a sweet spot where you have enough checks and balances that good projects get done while bad projects get blocked, but some parts of American governance (obviously including California) have so many layers of checks and balances that very few projects can make it through the gauntlet.

It's one thing to have to get by the budget committee, the whole Senate, and the governor. It's quite another thing to get by all of that, plus the EPA, the voting public, unions, TV/newspaper/blog pundits, half a dozen special interest groups that have conflicting requirements, and lawyers representing all of them.

As someone who lived in Canada and is currently leaving in the UK I was always surprised by the exceptionally poor state of maintenance of everything that is in the public domain in CA. Nothing was more sad perhaps than the state of the Aquatic Park pier in SF. The stunning beauty of the natural setting contrasted against the decrepit and crumbling (literally) pier railing was shocking. How do people living in one of the richest cities on the planet put up with such crap?

I moved from Chicago to LA and thought the roads were an amazing improvement. Nowadays I drive 25k miles a year in CA and I think the roads are mostly fine. Last year I went on a road trip from Chicago to Kansas City and back. I don't know what exactly people are talking about, CA roads look ok to me. AZ and Utah have amazing roads, but let's be fair, they are used a lot less, and are a lot easier to maintain.