As California drivers take to the freeways this Labor Day weekend, they will be paying a premium for their gasoline that's 88 cents more than the typical US driver. With crude oil prices at historic lows, and California oil refining profits at historic highs, the Golden State is getting gouged.

Governor Jerry Brown’s signature on legislation increasing the filing fee for citizens who file ballot initiatives from $200 to $2,000 is the modern equivalent of the famous salvo attributed to Marie Antoinette upon hearing of a famine among the French peasants, “Let Them Eat Cake.”

If citizens are starved for better democracy, let them pay 2K.

One of the biggest complaints people have about the Department of Motor Vehicles is how long you have to wait to get anything done. We’ve been waiting eight months on this DMV issue, but we are glad that’s the case this time.