Chris, I wholeheartedly agree with you. A law is going to garner discussions both for and against it. If people want to call that "politics" then fine. It's a law that affects cars and this is a car forum.
I am likewise not against government or law, but there is a threshold where you and I are unknowingly breaking stupid laws every single day, and that's just dumb. Anchorman, California is basically the king of stupid laws (in general), which is where the backlash comes from. This is really more a commentary on California in general, and take it from us, most other US states are not overly fond of California. Take the discussion not that long ago about California wanting to ban plastic straws. Meanwhile the rest of us hear they can't keep people from shitting on the streets in San Francisco, and the rest of us not in California roll our eyes. Essentially, over-regulation, money grabs (high taxes), and a lot of what Chris is talking about drives out people and businesses. There's a reason a lot of states, including Colorado are always groaning about "damn Californians" moving to our states. They leave the state for a number of factors, including the extremely high cost of living just even day by day there for the average joe. Problem is, most of them believe in the same "feel good" environmental stuff you do, try to enact all the same bulls*** in our other states that ruined theirs and the cycle continues...
Anyway, I don't say all this to disparage Californians on this board. My girlfriend is from CA, and I think it's a beautiful state. But once you get out of that region, I can't think of a more hated state in this country when it comes to laws and regulation that go too far, and suffice it to say, most of us do not want to be California in our own states.