Nope, Probably Not

Immigration

According to City Journal‘s Steve Malanga, Californication shouldn’t be as bad as people think:

Conservatives and moderates are the most unhappy with the state and most anxious to leave. Liberals, by contrast, are mostly staying put, and some think life in California is just great. Only 38 percent of Democrats said that they were considering leaving, compared with 55 percent of independents and 71 percent of Republicans. Similarly, those characterizing themselves as “somewhat liberal” were least likely to say that they want to go—fewer than four in ten are considering leaving. But 53 percent of moderates, 66 percent of the “somewhat conservative,” and 74 percent of the “very conservative” would like to migrate. Political affiliation, in fact, was more of a predictor of who wants to go or stay than other demographic information, such as race.

I think that the longtime residents of Colorado (to name just one state infested with ex-Californians) might beg to differ with Malanga’s thesis — and I think I know the problem.

Basically, “conservative” Californians coming to, say, Texas probably aren’t conservative at all.  Compared to other Californians, they might be;  compared to conservative Texans, they’re probably more like moderate Democrats.  And the way to establish the truth of this is to find out if during their first year in a new state, these Cali-expats bought a gun  (if they didn’t bring any with them).  If they didn’t buy a gun, they failed the first unofficial test of conservative American citizenship.

This kills me.  I have very dear relatives who are lifelong Californians, and are making serious plans to leave the state.  They are probably more conservative than I am, and are staunch gun owners to boot.  But I’m positive that Uncle Mike and The Angel In Human Form are in no way representative of these modern Joads-in-reverse.

More’s the pity.

P.S.  The above-mentioned relatives (much to my chagrin) are not moving to Texas because of the heat.  But let’s just say that the political makeup of one of the mountain states is about to become a lot  more conservative.

17 comments

  1. The worst thing about Californicators moving to Colorado, and everywhere else in the west, and succeeding in turning their new homes into what they ran away from–they’re so fucking smug about it.

    1. I couldn’t agree more! After a childhood spent as a constantly-moving army brat, I have lived my entire adult life in Colorado, save for a couple of years in the army myself. I honestly don’t recognize much of what goes on in this state politically any longer, mainly due to the influx of Californians since the early ‘90s. It’s pathetic.

      1. “The worst thing about Californicators moving to Colorado, and everywhere else in the west, and succeeding in turning their new homes into what they ran away from”.

        Amen Darrell

        ” I honestly don’t recognize much of what goes on in this state politically any longer, mainly due to the influx of Californians since the early ‘90s. It’s pathetic.”

        What has happened with Colorado, IB, is that it isn’t only Californians who’ve come here and brought their Garbage Dump with them, so have New York, Detroit, Chicago, and others…especially after we stupidly legalized MJ. No place to move to that isn’t doing the same things.

  2. “Basically, “conservative” Californians coming to, say, Texas probably aren’t conservative at all. Compared to other Californians, they might be; compared to conservative Texans, they’re probably more like moderate Democrats. ”

    This was my experience moving from NJ to PA nine months ago. In NJ (and NYC where I worked) I was a far-right, red-neck, ultra-Conservative, gun-owning, Bible-thumping bitter clinger. In PA I’m center-right. Hell, I few weeks ago I was talking to my PRIEST who’d gone shooting with his nephew, I told him that back in NJ his parishioners would’ve had to retire to their fainting couches at the mere mention of their priest going shooting. His reply was “Your right to self-defense is given by God, it pre-dates the State, so the State has no authority to deprive you of the means of self defense.”

    Yeah, I’m liking it here, and I have no intention of trying to turn PA into NJ.

  3. The real test would not be that they bought a gun but if they bought a gun that was not legal in California

      1. That’s too easy as almost every gun-owner in CA has those “boating accident” weapons that magically reappear as they cross the state-line going east.

  4. So how come we’re not actively working to isolate and quarantine the deadly Californivirus? It’s a hell of a lot more damaging than anything out of China.

  5. Arizona used to be reliably conservative, not so more, especially southern Arizona. My county is the smallest in Arizona and is completely overrun by ex-Californians who fled the state. These are not center Dems, these are far left Dems who believe they have a duty to turn Arizona into Eastern California. They want more government, more regulations, more taxes and less military, less mining, jobs and cattle.

    I shoulda moved to Texas…

    1. If they would only turn Arizona into Eastern California, it would be OK, because it is the Coastal portion of California that causes the problems.

  6. I may have mentioned before that my wife and I escaped Kalifornia for DFW in late 2015. Both of us born and raised, and raised our own family back there. We followed two of our grown kids here after they started their own careers.

    We live about a mile north of hwy 20. It is named the Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway. When I was a young lad in California, Ronald Reagan was governor. My guess would be demographic–the older the California expat, the more conservative they likely are.

    I must say I am most pleased to see that I have passed the test. When we moved, I brought my guns–more than two and less than 100. I also cast my own bullets, my raw material being used tire weights, which Kalifornia banned some years back. Along with everything else, I was still pissed about that, so brought my stash with me. Who in their right mind moves half way across the country and brings 450 pounds of tire weights with them?

    The following photo is in a thread about workbenches (which I also built). It shows my first AR build in Texas. All of the parts were purchased after we got here. And yes, when the dust cover opens, it reads “Plan B”.

    https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showpost.php?p=21413920&postcount=10

    The current California administration is like a python wrapped around the golden goose, squeezing ever tighter. This video pretty will illustrates the nightmare of being in business there–

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=539&v=lK2Mc6mLCCY&feature=emb_logo

    1. Are the Nickel and BPA even measurable?
      I mean, unless you use the glasses as a spoon for fifty years.

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