It's a little bit surreal. Arnie: Governor elect. I am frightened, just a little.

It's true. California is under the shit hammer. I worked it out the other day: if I'm not in Melbourne, I'm in California (my extended family live there). Every time I go there, things are a little different. You can really see the social effects of a state in distress. The state, physically, looks to be in disrepair. My guess is that Californians are pretty much willing to try anything at this stage.

I am not sure how politics works in America (believe it - or not - the area of political science I have specialised in focused more on Asia and Africa). I once thought I knew something about it, then George Bush Jr became president. I'm not sure Americans know much about their political system, for all the civics classes they are forced to take at the high school level.