I think the LA Times said it best when they referred to California as “A State in the rearview mirror”. The huge unemployment, heavy tax burden, dropping house prices, accessive regulations and codes, as well as the worst economic position in the United States have taken their toll. As a result of this oppressive environment, people, businesses, and families are leaving the state in droves!
I have lived in Southern California all my life. I was born in North Hollywood and spent my childhood in the San Fernando Valley under the plume of smoke and thunder from the rocket engines being tested nearby for the Apollo moon program. There was never a shortage of funds for schools. Every year we had brand new textbooks and I was even provided exercise classes to help with my flat feet. When I was ten years old my parents moved our family west into Thousand Oaks where I would spend the next 48 years watching California become more liberal, more oppressive, and more expensive. My wife was also from California and we raised our family in the same home town where we grew up. Our children attended California schools and tried to learn, despite the liberal teaching methods that met with disastrous results. The companies for which I worked struggled to survive California’s increasing tax burden and heavy regulations and codes.
Finally our children left the state to attend college. They are married and have their own families with children of their own. But you know what? They chose not to live in California. Even my parents left the state to live out their retired years somewhere else. All my six brothers and sisters moved away leaving my wife and I the last of our family in what was once the golden state of California.
Despite the exodus of our families, my wife and I chose to remain in California since I had a secure job and we had a nice home where the weather was always wonderful. But each year the taxes got higher and my employer found it harder to survive. Our home water bills skyrocketed when the government decided it was more important to protect a Sacramento sardine than to grow crops and provide drinking water for the population. Oppressive regulations drove up the cost of gasoline and electricity and natural gas. Other services which rely on those commodities passed their increased costs onto the consumer, and up went the cost of food, trash, and sewer, phone and other services. As California protected the influx of illegal aliens and provided them with free health care and paid them to attend our colleges and universities, the cost of our health care went up 15 to 20 percent per year.
Each year I watched the “do gooders” in Sacramento dream up even more oppressive schemes. Two years ago they passed a law that required all new home heating and air conditioning units be equipped with radio receivers so that the politicians could control our home air temperatures from Sacramento. We have forced recycling, mandatory water conservation, tiered costs for electricity to encourage conservation, and vapor recovery systems on all gas stations to capture gas fumes that might escape into the atmosphere. Half the output of our automobile engines is diverted to run smog equipment. We pay fees on soda bottles, fees for used oil, and fees for old car tires.
To increase the cost of living further, California’s public employees are some of the highest paid in the country due to public employee unions which are paid from our tax dollars. Retired public employees make far more money than they did when they were working. They buy boats and airplanes, new homes and rental property.
Gangs fueled by illegal aliens have become a major problem for the public and for law enforcement. The gangs cover the city with their graffiti, and they murder at will. The liberal court system that should have protected the public, chose instead to protect the rights of those who defied the law and who thumbed their noses at law enforcement.
Even the government has no regard for the law. When the majority of Californians voted to protect marriage with Proposition 8, the governor himself defied the will of the people and encouraged the courts to overturn the law.
Despite all of this, my wife and I remained in California because I had a good job and we loved the weather and our beautiful home with neighbors and friends.
Then one day it happened.....
My employer of 28+ years called me into his office and laid me off. I was now unemployed at the age of 58, living in one of the most expensive and most oppressive states in America, surrounded by illegal aliens, and gangs. To us the choice seemed simple indeed.
We decided that we will sell our home and move out of California to another state. We will choose a state where the costs are lower, where the law is enforced, where water is plentiful and tastes good. We will choose a state where it is safe to walk around the neighborhood at night without fear of being robbed or mugged. We want a state where the rights of citizens and businesses are more important than the rights of sardines and illegal aliens. We will look for a place where a citizen can buy a gun and ammunition. We will consider a state where the government will not control the temperature of our home, but would feel a responsibility to teach children in school, instead of providing them free lunches and a place to play electronic games.
Sadly my wife and I are not alone. According to the LA Times, more people, families and businesses are leaving California than are entering. The trend has been consistent for the past four years and is increasing. So my wife and I will be moving soon. Our house is for sale, but the price is dropping each week as the housing market is tanking and fewer people are moving to the once golden state of California.
We will just be relieved to see California in our rearview mirror.
