=Why is California special?=

And I think New York as well…

It's the money.

California - Hollywood, silicon valley

New York - Wall Street

All three are big, fast, money sources. By rights all three should be less progressive friendly than they are. All three also draw in money from not only the entire nation but most of the world.

Both states have very high tax rates. In both cases they have extremely large metropolitan areas that overwhelm the far more conservative ex-urban areas. Up through the 50's California was very conservative. My father used to talk about how clean San Francisco used to be. (see Dark Passage)

I don't know about New York, but as long as I have been here and followed such things California hasn't seen a bond measure it didn't pass, and by just about any measure the money is frittered away….or is it?

What if the money just gets redirected? Pick your favorite money laundering scheme. It get redirected and fed into the coffers to finance the progressive takeover.

Combined with the money from the three above industries you get an awful lot of walking around money, even accounting for the inevitable kickbacks, graft, bribes, etc.