I also posted this in NRO. I’ve spent most of my adult life in California, and I have lived and worked in both Californias. For several years, I lived in the San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento Valley, and didn’t realize how rich and enjoyable that experience was until I had spent nearly 15 years in the San Francisco Bay area. Drawing contrasts does not begin to define each region. It was the imagery of the Big Valley and the Sierras that defined California for me. I knew and lived and embraced diversity without knowing that it was some sort of label. Farming was the dominant industry for this state. Other than winter skiing, most urban, i.e. coastal, dwellers have no conception of what lies beyond the coast range, except it’s a microcosm of “flyover” country. It is the liberalism of the coastal regions that has slowly yet increasingly eroded the overall state. It has become ridiculously and insanely expensive to remain in the Bay area, yet I can’t go home to the valley, because what I knew and loved is gone. The liberals captured California, lot, stock and barrel in November, going against the tide of the rest of America. This time, California was no longer the trend setter. The ilk of Jerry Brown & Co. in Sacramento along with the ilk representing California in Washington will take this once fine state further down into the dark pit. The state will go broke, and there will no way to bail it out. As just a minor yet poignant example, when traveling in Arizona a few months back, I could not help but notice the beautiful roadways and how smooth the car felt. California used to be like that, in more ways than smooth highways. Now, it’s just one pothole after another, and all the band aids in the world are not going to fix what’s wrong here. No, like a growing number of Californians, when retirement comes in the next couple of years, I will leave this state. I will have a bitter longing for what once was yet has been decimated for good.
This is becoming somewhat of a problem for me. As my wife keeps wanting me to take her to California. Is it really that dangerous like I keep hearing? She wants to go to Cambria.
I have a good friend who moved with her husband when they closed his practice about five yrs ago. They are very happy living here. Their children live in GA. All is well.