Gib,
One of the great things about our founders' federalism was that states such as CA, NY, NJ, MI, etc. could do as much experimentation as their populations desired to arrive at a form of community that worked for them. What has happened since FDR with only minor corrections for one relatively brief time (Reagan), is the imposition of a federal standard which is reflective of CA's political evolution. The current administration with its radical environmental agenda, energy policy, socialized healthcare, and collectivized labor relations connected at the hip to crony capitalism simply Californicates the rest of the country in the short run.
This may actually be a good thing for the highest tax/highest cost-of-living states. Job growth in Texas in 2008 surpassed that of all other 49 states, COMBINED. With the current energy bill in Congress, no state will be penalized more. Add the federal VAT currently being discussed, the deductability of state taxes from federal tax liability (high growth states like TX, WA, FL have none), and the "playing field" is being leveled. Since people don't come to TX because of its fine weather or outstanding natural beauty, maybe your (CA's) producers will stay put. Limit the alternatives that free people have and CA may benefit at the expense of the rest.
As the Dos Pueblos fiasco clearly demonstrated, it is not about three frogs- indigenous or planted, but about the visions of the self-anointed prevailing at the expense of jobs, lives, and anything else that may get in the way. It is about the narcissism to impose one's will to the detriment of others.
The unfortunate thing is that smart, witty, articulate people like you are too busy making a living and taking care of your family to oppose these folks whose raison d'etre is their self-importance, their need to be special, to "make a difference". As we have seen throughout history, and not more so than today, religious zealots will commit any atrocity in the name of their faith. Radical environmentalism is a religion and its devotees will not play by the rules of common, civilized folks. To some, Mother Earth is obscenely over-populated by humans, and losing 4.5 billion or so is not only no real loss, but highly desirable. Someone else can compute the human to frog equivalence factor.