I don't think that it's so much that they're spending themselves into disaster, it's that the system there has rendered the state ungovernable. A large portion of spending is mandated, it requires an unworkable supermajority to raise taxes, and property tax valuations are stuck in the 70's. This is all due to California's proposition system.The normal representative democratic system would have a majorty party, or coalition which could enact changes as needed to address issues, implement new programs, and the like. If what they were doing was unpopular, they'd pay at the ballot box ultimately. What's happened here is that the straightjacket that the propositions have put into place has effectively prevented the legislature from being able to make significant changes without an exceedingly unlikely supermajority. It's natural that the minority party be against the actions of the majority party, but the supermajority rule gives them an effective veto over majority action. The minority doesn't pay a price for this since it's really their job to some extent, and the majority party has a built in excuse for not doing anything ("We tried, but they stopped us"). Thus we end up with institutional gridlock. If the state weren't facing some rather significant problems, it likely wouldn't matter much, but that's certainly not the case currently....and yes, this is a microcosm of what we're seeing at the national level with the abuse of the fillibuster in the Senate. Let the majority party act (within constitutional bounds, of course) and hold them accountable for what they do/don't do.