“Repeal and replace”–the mantra of the Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA)–is about to become a reality.

The calendar year is about to end. What have we learned about California? In political terms the rich got richer and the poor a whole lot poorer. Fiscally 2016 was a win for the status quo. Governor Jerry Brown signed a $167 billion budget that didn’t contain a dime in so-called blue-pencil reductions to individual spending items. 

It’s a presidential election little different from others in the California of the past quarter of a century. We don’t know the exact numbers for where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will end up, but here’s an educated guess: Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, will wind up near or north of 60% of the nation-state’s vote. It’s where Obama twice finished in his two presidential runs – against stronger Republican opposition.

Public policy at its very core is functionally using government action (or inaction) to alter how people behave, in some form or another.  This doesn’t necessarily means brute government force, i.e. bans, mandates, or government’s monopoly over violence, as using market mechanisms also strive to alter behavior.  Behavioral changes can be as simple as stopping at red lights to ensure orderly vehicle movement or as complex as altering the incentives to alleviate the symptoms or causes for poverty.