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They are arrogant because it has worked in the past.

California voters passed Prop. 187(?) to deny illegal immigrants public benefits beyond emergency medical treatment. No good. The California Teachers' Association spent millions of dollars to campaign against it but it passed, with a majority of the legal Hispanic vote supporting it (guess whose jobs are taken first). Anyway, even though it passed by a big margin, the special interest groups went into court to stop it and Governor Gray Davis, before his demise basically instructed the state government not to pursue any appeal to a higher court, thereby enshrining a lower court ruling that invalidated the measure.

Further, they can be arrogant because a few years ago the dominant democrats, with connivance by the scaredy-cat republicans, redrew all the legislative districts which had the effect of freezing nearly every legislative district as it then was (i.e., democratic districts were heavily drawn to democratic voters and republican districts were heavily drawn to republicans. Since the republicans were in the minority, it ensured minority status would remain for at least ten years. It is one of the things Schwarzenneggar is trying to change.

On the gay marriage issue, all they have to do is find a court that is willing to rule on the tortured logic of Prop. 222 and they are mostly home free. Although we have a republican governor, the attorney general is staunch democrat and running for another public office in the next election. He would just not appeal.

When you have a corrupt legislature and a willing judiciary, there isn't much you can do except plan to move out of state as soon as possible. Wish I could be more optimistic, but the deck is really stacked here.