Here’s Your California Democracy. Would You Like Fries With That?

My Trip to a Wendy's in Colton Shows Why the Golden State Treats Law-Making Like Fast Food

One recent Sunday night, I stopped by a Wendy’s in Colton, a gritty San Bernardino County logistics crossroads (pop. 52,000) best known as home to one of America’s oldest and busiest railroad crossings.

I wasn’t there to catch a train or to grab a square hamburger and a Frosty, but rather to glimpse the struggles of California’s peculiar system of democracy.

California’s governance might seem to emanate from the marble halls of Sacramento. But if you want to see how our state really treats democracy—as fast food, with laws and amendments …