It seems to be a running joke that whenever someone praises the state they live in (particularly when it is one that is a “hidden gem” or target for interstate immigration) others will jump in and tell them to hush up to keep the secret and not encourage outsiders to move there. Being originally from California, I completely understand that sentiment as I watched the California Cancer spread, in particular to Washington and Colorado, over time. But it really isn’t about the people themselves, it is about the policies they tend to bring with them.
I had long wanted to escape the authoritarian rule of the California state and had moved moved away in the 90’s with no plans on returning. I had bounced around the country for a while working on my gun business and later for a virtual reality company, and had originally settled on Washington to be my ultimate destination. I had helped one of my best friends move up there and fell in love with the area – to this day, the rainforests in Washington still hold a special place in my heart. But things happened and I chose to move back there for a while. When things had changed for my situation, I was ready to escape again, but other things had changed as well.
By this time, Washington was no longer the state it was in the 90’s and was now off the table. I had a job (the result of an acquisition after an acquisition) that wanted to relocate as many of the scattered staff to a center in Spokane, so I used that opportunity to move myself and new wife to Idaho, right near the border of Washington.
Living in Idaho was amazing, but there was some pushback from locals because we were from California. Thankfully, we were able to blend in pretty quickly because on the third or fourth day living there, we walked into our local DMV and had new Idaho plates in hand in about 15 minutes. (Contrast that to the 5 hours we waited at a CA DMV with an appointment to update my wife’s license and take care of some things.) I soon left the job that helped me move to go back to work in the firearms industry for a suppressor manufacturer and there I learned something – it seemed that the most vocal opponents to California immigrants were other escapees.
There was a popular bumper sticker slogan, “Don’t California our Idaho” that resonated with me. I didn’t want Idaho to become like California, I just escaped there. I moved to a state that had the policies I liked – lower taxes, less government intrusion, and less restrictive gun laws.
An anecdote: The first gun I bought in Idaho was purchased while I was on the phone with a friend in California. I had looked at it earlier in the day and planned to go back to the shop in the next day or two, but while on the phone, my friend mentioned that he had just bought the same model but was only a few days into the waiting period. While on the phone, I drove back to the shop, filled out the 4473 and bought it after my instant background check. I had told my friend to hold on while I was paying and while driving back home he asked what all that was about (voices in the background, second conversations, etc). I told him I bought the gun and was on my way home. “When do you get to pick it up?” He was in shock when I told him it was on the seat next to me and just said, “you’re a dick.” Anyhow, back to the topic…
Idaho was wonderful. The people were nice, and when the whole pandemic thing was going on, we just went about our business. Sure people took some extra precautions to not cough in each others face, but common sense ruled rather than fear. We started looking for property, but kept getting outbid. Looking into it further, I found many of the properties were being sold to, you guessed it, Californians – many of which hadn’t even visited the property and were just going off the realtor photos. The area we lived in had such an amazing landscape that Mark Zuckerberg, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, and the Kardashians all had property within 45 minutes or so from us. After this happened several times and including a time where we added in our own $50,000 escalation clause, we expanded our search to Montana… but I’m starting chase squirrels.
The point is, many of the people who move to one of the “hidden gems” are doing so because they truly want to integrate with the community. But if one is to do that, one needs to adapt to the local political climate rather than try to push their politics. If you moved for a reason, don’t drag that reason to the place you’re moving to. Sure, these other places have low taxes, but may have less of a social safety net – pushing for more of those things will ultimately raise taxes and change the environment you moved to. Instead, how about leave the government teat alone and work on these things yourself – start your own non-profit to expand those social services or programs. Do things yourself without asking the government to extort money from your neighbors to do it for you.
It isn’t just California, but they do get a lot of extra hate because their politics tend to be more extreme than most, and it was plain to see how the influence of the California immigrants changed things in Washington and Colorado. Just last week we met someone who after some conversation quietly disclosed, “don’t hate me, but I’m originally from California.” No, it isn’t right to hate someone because of where they were born – be it Africa, Russia, the Middle East, or even California – hate them if they bring dogshit policies with them.
And if you’re moving to a quaint little “hidden gem” of a town, don’t bring the bullshit with you that you are trying to escape.
Interesting Tidbits
Airlines Don’t Want You to Know They Sold Your Flight Data to DHS – “A data broker owned by the country’s major airlines… collected U.S. travelers’ domestic flight records and sold it”
Heart attacks, fainting and falls: the perils of pooping – “The humble toilet seems like the least likely setting for drama. Yet throughout history, it has claimed kings, toppled celebrities and served as the scene of untimely deaths ranging from the tragic to the downright bizarre.”
What Amazon MGM’s creative control over the James Bond film franchise means for the future of 007 – “With its new deal, Amazon MGM has a controlling stake only in the rights that EON holds. EON has licensed the right to produce future films and TV shows from Fleming since 1961. EON secured worldwide merchandising rights in 1964 and production rights to video games in the early 1990s.”
Is AI sparking a cognitive revolution that will lead to mediocrity and conformity? – “The danger is not that AI will fail us, but that people will accept the mediocrity of its outputs as the norm. When everything is fast, frictionless and “good enough,” there’s the risk of losing the depth, nuance and intellectual richness that define exceptional human work.”
WhatsApp is finally getting usernames – “With usernames, users will be able to connect with others without sharing their actual phone number.”
What can someone do with your phone number to hack you? – “If a hacker finds your phone number, they can use it to target you in a variety of ways.”
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