Dan Walters: What’s behind the political theater over California’s high gas prices?

California’s governors and legislators often do things that defy real world rationality and can only be explained, if not justified, in political terms. This month’s exercise in political theater over gasoline prices is an extreme example.

California’s gas prices are, as every motorist knows, much higher than those of other states. Just driving into Nevada and Arizona for a fill-up will likely cost a dollar per gallon less than it would in California — even though the fuel probably came from a California refinery.