Zeus: California takes giant step back on climate

Fear of a rich progressive condemns most populous state to more environmental inadequacy

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Photo: Theresa Thompson/flickr.

I remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California. It was a triumph of celebrity populism over democratic technocracy as The Terminator won office after the ouster of Gov. Gray Davis in a recall vote in 2003.

It was also a victory for smart political calculus as Schwarzenegger moved to the center to win over disaffected Democrats who overwhelmingly command the state’s polls.

That isn’t happening 23 years later as Californians, unhappy but unwilling to change, split the extremest vote in this week’s “jungle primary” between a rich climate progressive and a hard-core MAGA Republican to leave a clean path for another dull-eyed technocrat to drive up the middle and win come November.