it's a mistake to believe that any major political party adheres to a principled political philosophy, but it's true that single-party politics is ripe for corruption, which is CA (especially SF and LA) in a nutshell. it's much easier for money to talk when only one party is listening. this is the same dynamic that antitrust in commerce is meant to prevent. politicians spend something like 80% of their time now soliciting donations, even in single-party areas, which is very telling of their priorities (rhetoric be damned).