Don’t get me wrong, Southern CA, especially S. Orange County is probably the nicest place in the Country to live.
Great Weather year round, no Bugs and it is just beautiful.
We are ten minutes from Laguna Beach and the Blue Pacific.
Unfortunately toxic Liberalism and their Open Border thinking has ruined it.
When my Family moved here from New York in 1960, it was truly The Golden State and the Land of Opportunity. Hard to believe Reagan was our Governor at one time. You would never know it nowadays.
I know S. California. Grew up there from 1956-1968 - a little town called Rialto, next door to San Berndardino. I predicted to relatives that Reagan would be governor, and some day president BEFORE he officially announced his canidacy for his 1st run for governor. I heard his speach at the 1964 Goldwater nominating convention and knew then what he could do.
After military service I did not return to reside in California, but with parents (both deceased now) and siblings (and then their kids) there, I have kept going back often enough to see all the changes. And yes, most of my relatives who are still there, like you, hate the political changes, but age, family, and finances being what they are none are thinking of moving soon. They know I will not join them there.