Oh, there's a lot about California that makes it completely intolerable. Unfortunately there's a lot about other states that make them completely intolerable as well. Pick your poison.

NY is about the only one with roughly sknklarish levels of draconian control.

Unfortunately idiots run the state but IMO California has the greatest geography in the world. It has the most amount of experiences one can get than any other state, some countries even. There a great variety of people and cultures here, only rivaled by NYC. Despite the fires the weather is fantastic most of the time.

It's definitely gotten worse to live in these days (homeless, dumb politicians, rent, traffic, etc) but it's something I would put up with because it's truly a great location. I really wish someday someone competent would come to office there, but alas.

Not saying California is perfect, absolutely not. A shithole some might say, but there's so much Cali offers that you can't get anywhere else.

source: I'm from California, grew up SoCal, went to uni in NorCal. Went and seen it all. Unfortunately now I live in Seattle due to job reasons.