Hanson blames the current state of affairs on the modern, elite liberals who controlled the levers of power in California throughout its decline. These "richerals" - a term he coined for rich, cool liberals who shelter themselves from the real world in a cocoon of wealth - reshaped the state to fit their vision of utopia. All the while they used their clout to escape the effect of the high taxes and regulations they imposed on others, namely the middle class and people who settled away from the coast. "California is run from a sort of Pacific Versailles, an isolated...