Much of California’s exceptionalism seems negative: Crumbling infrastructure, enormous debt, high taxes, rampant crime & homelessness, shrinking middle class, & a natural environment of drought, earthquakes, & fires.
On the truly “exceptional” side:
* State Parks. They are really well maintained and affordable. Incredible ocean and redwood parks.
* Wine. Amazing vineyards and wineries everywhere.
* Tech. It’s still the center of the tech universe and produces more startup companies than any place on earth.
In addition to what you listed, California schools went from best of the best 40 years ago to near-bottom.
If you are fortunate enough and wealthy enough, you can really enjoy the state. But you point out a lot of the shortcomings and you forgot one of the biggest of all: unfunded public pensions.
California has a budget surplus of $14 to $30 billion depending on how you count the “rainy day fund.” BUT, California’s public pension plans (CalPERS and CalSTRS) had record high unfunded liabilities of $168 BILLION in 2016. It is a nationwide problem, of course, with unfunded public liabilities having grown $215 B between 2015 and 2016 to $1.4 TRILLION (assuming the systems met their investment earnings assumptions of 7-plus percent a year).