b'California is a land of contrasts. The state is home to staggering wealth, world-remaking tech companies, and some of the world\\u2019s boldest climate policy. It also has immense income inequality, arguably the worst housing crisis in the country, and the highest poverty rate in the nation when you factor in housing costs.\\n\\nThe dysfunction of our national politics is often attributed to division and gridlock. But in California, Democrats are at the wheel. No Republican has held statewide office in over a decade. And in many major cities \\u2014 Los Angeles and San Francisco, for example \\u2014 Republicans have little or no political power. For that reason, the tensions and difficulties facing the Golden State are often a signal of what is to come for the Democratic Party nationally.\\n\\nIf California has long been a bellwether for national liberal politics, Senator Scott Wiener has been something of a bellwether for California politics. Senator Wiener has represented San Francisco in the California Senate since 2016 and, before that, served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He was introducing bill after bill to address the state\\u2019s housing affordability crisis long before the term \\u201cYIMBY\\u201d was a widespread political label. And in recent years, he\\u2019s introduced legislation that would decriminalize certain psychedelics, provide access to therapy to all incarcerated Californians, and pilot supervised injection sites.\\n\\nSo I wanted to talk to Senator Wiener about the political workings of his weird city and state \\u2014 a place where traditional labels break down, where abundant resources meet equally abundant problems and where change is actually happening.\\n\\nThis episode contains strong language.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\n\\u201cYes in Our Backyards\\u201d\\xa0by Bill McKibben\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nAnd the Band Played On by Randy Shilts\\n\\nThe House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros\\n\\nLast Call by Daniel Okrent\\n\\nWheel of Time series\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\nThis episode of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d is produced by Emefa Agawu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris. Mixing by Jeff Geld. The show\\u2019s production team is Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld, Rog\\xe9 Karma and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Erik Mebust, Misha Chellam, Sonia Herrero and Kristina Samulewski.'