Walter Russell Mead Calls It: California a Failed State

Walter Russell Mead takes note of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that forces California to release up to 46,000 prisoners to ease overcrowding.  Mead writes,

"California meets the strict test of state failure: it can no longer enforce the law within its frontiers.  Let there be no mistake: when you produce so many criminals that you can’t afford to lock them up, you are a failed state.  Virtually every important civil institution in society has to fail to get you to this point."

What we need is a new compact between citizen and state.  Clearly the old one is no longer working.