I moved to CA when I came off active duty in 96. So while I am not native, I hear and have seen some of the same observations you articulate.
I am leaving next month. After 21 years I cant stand the nerve racking traffic, high taxes, lack of conservative representation, insane laws binding the law abiding citizen, the poor roads, the garbage people throw on the highways and streets, the failing education system, the crime and lack of desire to stop it, the illegals and the debt the state saddles its taxpayers with, the anti-2nd amendment govt (and the list goes on) any more.
I only have two things I can say positive. I love the weather, and I love my work. My company is now allowing me to transfer to another division in a better state. And the weather is simply not enough to hold me here anymore.
I love the state. It’s like watching a loved one on their death bed. You realize even more how much they meant to you, how much you loved them, and you don’t want to say good-bye. I’ve been here since 1969. I was actually born here in 1951, but at the age of three I became independent and moved to Missouri for 15 years.
The massive coast line, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states, the lowest inland point in the nation, the mountains, the parks, areas with volcanic activity, beautiful unmatched forests, massive rock canyons and valleys, great world class ski resorts, deserts, high elevation meadows, tens of millions of acres of forests, many small lakes, a bread basket of farmland second to none, mineral deposits, oil and natural gas resources, thermal vents, hot springs, and the nation’s three major sea ports, at one point a decade ago the three largest in the nation.
Our military resources in state are also impressive.
I’ve seen Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and almost any other state in California. There is a part of California that will remind you of home. You’ll drive around a turn, and there it is. If you didn’t know better, you’d think this was real estate from your home state.
California also has it’s problems. It is besieged by Leftists for all these very reasons. It’s an incredible place. So is the United States. Both are under attack. The U. S. is on the road to recovery.
Some day California will be also.
I will live to see it. I will be here welcoming others who think our nation is too important to hand off this state in perpetuity to leadership like the old Soviet Union, Mao, Vietnam, or German Third Reich.