Why is it so difficult for the liberal elite academic class to understand that California cannot afford to heal, educate, and otherwise care for 8 million illegal immigrants, aka undocumented Democrats, and still maintain a healthy higher education system?

Well jack_433, it's because they are too stunned to think straight after watching their conservative neighbors parking their 40k SUVs in front of their 3500 sq ft mcmansions all the while claiming that they can't afford any new taxes as they flush UC and CSU out to sea...

Jack, maybe they know that without the illegal immigrants they can't get their huge agribusiness crops harvested that feed the country and much of the rest of the world. _returning to the obvious_

so California is really a plantation with bunches of slave owners called democrats?? and 8 million slaves!!; is that what you are saying "returning to the obvious" ...how intersting and how true along with the wide variety of other companies and employers across the 50 states and all championed by you know who and those who elect Nancy Pelosi.

Apparently, some of the libs in the audience don't know the difference between legal migrant workers and illegal aliens, the latter being known as undocumented Democrats.

California, like several other states, is suffering from overspending on those who don't offer any return - namely, prisoners and welfare recipients (esp. unwed, teenage mothers). And considering the power of prison gangs in prisons, I'd say that the plethora of first time offenders convicted of petty, nonviolent crimes are being hardened only to be released and returned to prison sucking the economic life out of the tax payer for twenty-five years to life.
Personally, I think the students did the right thing, after all, it's their future we're spending on our self righteousness, so-called "morals" and billions of hours in wasted government time (esp. the strengthing of narcotics laws [Jim Crow in a mask] and the fruitless arguments over same sex marriage). Like most states, the public school system does little more than baby sit and control crowds. As a result, our public school systems are breading grounds for penitentiaries, not universities. In addition, corporate greed has placed both parents - if they can manage to stay together - at work so they can afford the little pleasures of life like eating. Meanwhile, our young Americans are sent from one baby sitter to another - from the public school to the street gang. Our budding American scholars should protest the flagrant disregard their elders have had for their wellbeing. So, we should start with the man in the mirror; not shame on them for protesting, but shame on us for giving them a reason. Our kids are an investment, not a burden.

Further, the liberals in the California legislature don't think that the it is running businesses out of the state. Oblivious, clueless, disingenuous, etc., are all apt descriptors of the liberals in the dysfunctional California legislature.