EXITING CALIFORNIA! -- Invasion Of The Fleeing Golden Staters!

ICONOCLAST ^ | by Lin Anderson

[Apolitical]

ICONOCLAST EXCLUSIVE!!

EXITING CALIFORNIA!
-- Invasion Of The Fleeing Golden Staters!



Bye, Bye, California; Nevada, Here They Come!

by Lin Anderson

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the traditional American immigration pattern -- East to West, for those of you who slept through "U.S. Demographic History" that day -- seems no longer to be operative here in the 21st century.

For the record, also inoperative are common sense and the Detroit Tigers.

"Go West, young man, and grow up with the country," wrote Horace Greeley back there in 1865 in an editorial in the New York Tribune. Modern-day researchers have, however, found that the same exact words were penned 14 years earlier by a Mr. John Soule in a Terre Haute, Indiana, newspaper. It must be gratifying for former New York "journalist" Jayson Blair to serenely contemplate that in his tenure with the New York Times, he was in fact just carrying on a longstanding Empire State tradition established by Horace Greeley.

No matter its provenance -- as they say pretty much hourly around the New York Times these days -- the quote has long been a linchp in in the annals of the western United States, even though the odds are pretty good that Greeley was drunker than a convention of Dean Martin impersonators when he plagiarized it.

According to an article by Haya El Nasser, in a recent very colorful edition of USA Today, the Census Bureau has determined that today's immigration patterns are from West to East -- more specifically from California to anyplace distraught Californians can think of to flee to.

"Most of the people leaving California," the USA Today piece notes, "are going to other Western states such as Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Colorado." And most of the most of them are going to Nevada. Or, as writer Haya El Nasser hilariously phrases it, "Nevada was the biggest beneficiary" of these refugees from Gray Davis's Worker's Paradise.

Lucky us.

The bureau estimates that some 200,000 Californians made tracks to Nevada in the late 1990s, hoping to escape such happy Golden State features as "earthquakes, race riots, economic downturns, a wave of foreign immigration and skyrocketing housing prices." While we haven't had the earthquakes or race riots yet, we seem of late to be quite well represented by the other items on the list, so I'm thinking it's just a matter of time before some unpopular court verdict or other causes the ground to start shaking and the good china to come hurtling off the shelves.

It's not exactly a stunning revelation that a sizeable chunk of the Golden State's population is scurrying over the border and into our hearts. We're handy, after all. Right next door, you might say. In the line of fire, certainly.

Nevada is also attractive by virtue of our having no state income tax; but, per capita, we have just as many nutball legislators as the Californians are used to. I'd say that would make the immigrants feel right at home, but their goal always seems to be something along the lines of making our home feel an awf ul lot like their former home.

It has been a recurring theme of mine -- for at least the past four years or so-- that, as Nevada has become more and more a Haven for the Disaffected Soul (particularly the Disaffected Soul from our neighbor to the West), we have found many of our own cherished Silver State traditions relentlessly assailed. As the folks from Fresno, the beings from Bakersfield and the peeps from Pomona have arrived, so, predictably, have the demands for smoke-free casinos, smog inspection stations, vegetarian menu alternatives and draconian zoning ordinances.

It's as if these refugees had risked their very lives fleeing the Nazis and then suddenly decided upon reflection that maybe they liked that whole crazy "we VILL rule da VORLD" concept after all.

I was a Californian long ago, and have many acquaintances who presently live -- if you call that living -- Over There. I also lived in Seattle back when the California license plates started showing up in unsuspecting neighborhoods with alarming frequency, so I know how this thing works -- or, more to the point -- doesn't work.

I had a conversation with a Seattle-based friend of mine awhile back during which we reminisced about the California invasion. He noted with some degree of cynicism that the hordes which had poured into the city during the 1980s and 1990s were, as the new century dawned, rapidly tiring of the area and were even now pointing their fuel-efficient vehicles south, toward Oregon.

If you've scanned the news out of Oregon lately, you know they arrived there safely.

I fear the upcoming recall election will find even more of our neighbors dropping next door to borrow a cup of sanity. With Gray Davis "alternatives" including Arnold Schwarzenegger ("The Governator"), Arianna Huffington, tiny Gary Coleman ("Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Davis?"), and big blob Larry Flynt already on the goofy ballot -- which may includ e the names of dozens of candidates by the time voters finally trudge wearily to the polls in October -- men, women and children from Redding to Riverside are likely even now nibbling low-calorie things like their fingernails and planning a daring escape to a more hospitable climate such as, for example, us...Nevada!

What's to be done? ...............

[skinkinthegrass]

Reno is a mess of dirty freezing snow in the winter and you if you want to live like a lizard, move to Vegas. It's like Phoenix, it's not a temperature, it's an oven setting.....

...warm is good, hot better...ice, brrrrr :)

[Age of Reason]

Texas is over 22 million (85% of which live in metropolitan areas) and not even close to having a state income tax.

Funny, but Potlatch posted the following: "Texas is still pretty conservative, especially outside the big citys."

Sounds to me like 85% of Texans are living in liberal surroundings--the densely populated cities.

But just keep rejoicing at your ever increasing population density.

It is obvious there is no correlation between places of high population density and liberalism.

Yet when I compare the population densities of U.S. counties that went for Gore to those that went for Bush in the last election:

Gore: 127,000,000 million people in 575,184 sq. miles = population density of 220 people per Square Mile

Bush: 143,000,000 million people in 2,432,456 square miles = population density of 59 people per Square Mile

I might be forgiven for concluding that the greater the population density, the more votes for candidates like Gore.

[tbird1]

To all exiting Californians:

Nevada will fulfill all your dreams of a great place to live. They will welcome you with open arms.

I live in Arizona
tbird1

[Centurion2000]

No one in Texas has ever even seriously mentioned having a state income tax that I know of.

Actually there have been some legislators that suggested bringing an income tax in to replace property taxes. Almost all of the ones that do that seem to lose the next election.

[Age of Reason]

Yeah, you just let me know, OK? Your little theory is nice... it works in some places and not in others, so is basically just a silly theory that doesn't have much to do with anything. Texas has grown and grown and become more and more urban and is only getting more conservative.

If Texas is becoming more conservative, how do you explain you?

[potlatch]

I might be forgiven for concluding that the greater the population density, the more votes for candidates like Gore.

Well, that was my original implication - that big citys are more liberal. I live in a city of 65 thousand, but it is more conservative than liberal! But we are by no means 'a big city'.

[Doctor Stochastic]

I plan to return to Texas on retirement. That'll be another vote against the income tax.

[Texas_Dawg]

I plan to return to Texas on retirement. That'll be another vote against the income tax.

Be careful to move to a rural location. You might be the straw that breaks the urban camel's back that makes Age of Reason's theory come true, sending Texans running to vote for taxes and Green Party candidates.

[Age of Reason]

Your little theory is nice... it works in some places and not in others, so is basically just a silly theory that doesn't have much to do with anything.

Population densities of U.S. counties that went for Gore compared to those that went for Bush in the last election:

Gore: 127,000,000 million people in 575,184 sq. miles = population density of 220 people per Square Mile

Bush: 143,000,000 million people in 2,432,456 square miles = population density of 59 people per Square Mile

Therefore, the greater the population density, the more votes someone like Gore gets.

And as I remember, Bush lost the popular vote as it was and despite leaning way over to the left.

And you want to add more people?

[Amanda King]

You are welcome here in South Carolina. To give you an idea of how different we are from California, South Carolina recently made available "In God We Trust" license plates. The design is the #1 specialty plate and is outselling the #2 plate by almost 9 times.

By the way, I am a native Californian who lived there during the Reagan days (left in 1977).

[Texas_Dawg]

And as I remember, Bush lost the popular vote as it was and despite leaning way over to the left.

Like I say, your little theory works in some places and doesn't work in others. It's like saying the stock market goes up more on average in years where the NFC team wins the Super Bowl than in years when the AFC team wins. True, but the Super Bowl has nothing to do with the stock market. Just about as bogus as your population theory. (Suburban Atlanta votes far more conservative than many rural Georgia areas which are still overwhelmingly Yellow Dog Democrat). Surely Bush wasn't in a close election because he was running against the Vice President of an administration that was sitting on top of the best economy in the history of the world, right?

[Axenolith]

Seriously dude, I hear in some states the FIRST thing you want to do is stop by the DMV and snag a set of new tags as windshield and tire insurance. :0 !

[Axenolith]

California has reached the Metasticising stage!

[petuniasevan]

South where?

I moved to Wisconsin (I know, home of tax-and-spend) 8 years ago and won't ever move back to Cali.

Test the waters when meeting new people. Let 'em get to know you before you announce, "Hey, I'm from California!" Our reputation precedes us.

[tortoise]

Reno is a mess of dirty freezing snow in the winter

For about one week a year. Negligible precipitation and winter daytime temperatures in the 40s don't make for much of snowy or even freezing winter. Think Silicon Valley temperature band shifted 5-10 degrees cooler.

[Texas_Dawg]

Actually there have been some legislators that suggested bringing an income tax in to replace property taxes. Almost all of the ones that do that seem to lose the next election.

My point exactly. Thanks.

[Age of Reason]

Like I say, your little theory works in some places and doesn't work in others.

You can also point to cases where someone fell from a great height--yet suffered hardly a scratch.

That doesn't change the fact that it is wise to avoid falling.

To discover a trend, you don't just look at one or two examples, you look at all and average them out.

Which I did for you above.

And the difference in population densities was glaringly obvious.

The trend is that the greater the population density of a place, the more liberal the place.

[Jay D. Dyson]

I just sold my house. I will be leaving California on August 24th, bound for the South. California has been ruined by the nuts, many of whom came from other states. It has become a nut Mecca.

I wish you well on your journey. Travel safe and enjoy the trip. I hope your new home is everything you expect and more.

My wife and I will be joining the exodus from California in the near future.

California may be getting rid of Davis, but it seems most "Republicans" out here only want to replace him with "Davis Lite."

Small wonder this state is tanking as hard as it is. It's already hit rock bottom...now it's skidding a few thousand yards by sheer momentum alone.

-Jay

[tortoise]

Oregon's economy is in the tank, with Washington close behind. The only problem with moving to Nevada, is that that means one must live there.

The economy is doing good in Nevada. Unemployment is bouncing between 3.5 and 4%. Primary reason: Many of the companies exiting California are setting up shop there. I don't go their very often, but every time I drop over the hill into Reno, some other big company has opened up an office there. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the big pharmaceutical companies had opened up offices there. Amazon and Barnes & Noble have a very obvious presence, as do most banks. Lots of business moving in there, and they can barely throw up office buildings fast enough.

On the upside, one of my friends there who is a professor says that the state is becoming more conservative every day as people move there. Most people forget that Nevada was a Democrat state for a long time and that the conversion to Republicans is recent, hence the large number of Democrat incumbents. But the Democrats are rapidly losing ground as the people moving into the state are overwhelmingly conservative in nature.

[novacation]

Yeah, but aren't they getting a cool nuclear dump?