California imports more cheap labor from a third world country than any other state. California exports her prisoners.  The state of California essentially outsources a substantial amount of its energy production, importing more of its electricity than any other state.  If California were a country, the liberals in academia would be outraged at this neocolonial behavior.  Ironically it has been liberal policies that have lead to California becoming a neocolonial state.

The heart of liberal illegal immigrant friendly policies, like the sanctuary cities, In-state tuition for illegal immigrants , and state subsidized medical care is supposed to be compassion.  If one were to don the mantle of a traditional academic, and California were a western country, an observer would note that the number one driver for the illegal immigrant policies is that rich Californians want cheap housekeepers and gardeners.  An academic would also point out that encouraging this illegal behavior essentially sets up a permanent underclass, better known in academic circles as economic slavery (hardly compassionate).

Currently California cannot house all of its prisoners.  So like the colonizers of old, California exports it's prisoners to other states because it is cheaper to have criminal serve out their sentences "abroad".  Some of the more liberal estimates speculate that nearly half of California's prison population are exported (although the actual number is probably closer to 20 percent). 

It's not just California's prison policies that cause colonial behavior.  Currently California imports more electricity than any other state in the Union. A combination of a broken court system, insane environmental laws, and a strong "Not In My Backyard" ethic have thwarted domestic energy production.  No matter, Californians can simply purchase their energy from other states, exporting the dirty business of producing energy to someplace else. Apparently pollution in another state isn't a concern for Californians as long as they can turn their lights on.

California's years of mismanagement, broken policies, lack of legislative backbone, coupled with governmental hubris and fantasy, have brought the state to the brink of bankruptcy.  The state has already asked for Federal assistance to bail it out.  Just like the colonizers of old, the colonies are expected to help pay for the sins of the colonizer.  California will be looking to the US taxpayer to pay for its mistakes and mismanagement.   It's own citizens are leaving in droves and analyst openly wonder how long it will be before all the producers are gone and the state is left with workers entirely reliant on the state.  Those that leave realize that their income is an attractive target for the tax collector and are fed up with the increasing legal bourdon of living in a nanny state.  This mirrors the history of other colonizers, where citizens seeking freedom and opportunity left for the colonies.

The practice of colonialism died when the colonies started to revolt, starting with our own 13 colonies.  California's "colonial behavior" will stop when our elected officials turn off the tap of US taxpayer money and force the state to fix the problems it created.

Aaron Gee is a U.S.-based IT consultant who started the blog foundingideals.com.