A friend of mine recently moved to Utah. I asked her what was biggest difference? (Besides the obvious reasons for leaving California.) She said, “People are friendly and when you call a government agency they answer in two rings and they’re happy to help.”
It is nice. Our oldest son and his family moved to Salt Lake City from Austin, Texas. My son compared it to stepping out of a Salvador Dali dystopia into a Norman Rockwell world that makes sense. We could not be happier and more relieved that our two grand daughters will get to grow up in those surroundings.
Gift your California corporation to a homeless person and walk away. Do not reply to any correspondence, other than to give them the name of the homeless person.
I find it puzzling that you moved to the People’s Republic of Washington. The Leviathan of the Democrat cabal is as voracious in its brain-eating and wealth extracting behavior as it’s southern role-model (New PRC).
Meanwhile, I admire your work and am pleased you are a neighbor. Misery loves company. 😎
My wife had a great job in tech and I was independent, so I moved to Seattle. And Washington is blue, but also has zero state income tax, which puts a nice restraint on things.
Apr 24, 2023·edited Apr 24, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
WA has zero state income tax for now — which is great compared to CA’s 10.3% rate we were paying before we moved north. But Inslee is working hard to grab every single dollar he can get his hands on. “As last week was coming to a close, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling on Friday, March 24, permitting the imposition of a state tax on capital gains.” - Forbes, March 27, 2023
Sadly, many leave blue states due to high taxes, excess regulations and restrictions, etc. only to vote for Democrats in the states they move to. Go figure!
When I departed California after living in the Valley for 30 years. I sold several items I would no longer need, a 2 & 1/2 ton truck ,and a 30 foot boat. The truck was no problem, the Boat became an anchor. I sold it almost a year before I moved, after relocating I began receiving "Tax Due Notices" I responded by Identifying the Buyer but still kept receiving these notices. All taxes were paid up to the Date I sold the Boat, apparently the new owner ignored the Taxes, so I did the next best thing, after sending the new owner all the Tax Due notices. I Ignored them also and they finally stopped Bugging me.
That's exactly what I was thinking when I read Mr. Rufo's post! We are at the point where a person needs to have criminal connections to make anything happen. It's easy to understand now how that system gets going!
Very late Soviet - post-Ceaușescu Romania is a an example - the ex-Communist bureaucracy ruling for its own benefit in his absence. So, no more "Directives" - just the bureaucracy that formerly "implemented" them!
Mexico's governing structure had a similar malaise and incompetency (though much smaller relative to its country) on the eve of its "vertical subversion." It is a dark thought - but California is, after all, one of the four border states.
In the case of Mexico, nobody there ever advocated for decriminalizing crime or regarding criminals as a "protected class." The void created by systematic incompetency can yield to new power, if there is something worth having. California is worth having.
Yes. And when the Party/its members becomes decadent and makes extra-legal side-deals with non-state actors - and uses the State to conceal them/provide impunity to all concerned...then this is an invitation.
It' s not that the Cartels overpowered the State, so much as they were made a de-facto minor partner whose influence has grown. They have advanced by exploiting decadence and filling voids left by both the decadence of the State and the receding of civil institutions. They prey on weakness.
Perhaps the PRI still lurks about as the current President spent 13 years there. Mexican writer Enrique Krauss suggests that ALMO is actually not a socialist but more of a Latin American Strongman more concerned with raw power. His pick to succeed him will probably be current Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum who will put Latin American woke ideology on steroids.
UGH, I'm a relatively new resident and took me 1.5 years to deal with Dept.. of Housing and Community Deveopment to get name change on title (due to divorce) on my manufactured home. Snail mail ,email, fone calls, day trip on Southwest fly into Sacramento, etc. It made me think "this is what it must have been like in E. Europe in the 70's"! I keep telling myself I'm just here for the weather and the scenery (the desert)
I still live in the Sacramento area, Chris. Our family lives with us and it very elderly, so we're not going anywhere, but we're now having conversations with our teen daughters about how we will ensure they don't start their professional / working lives here. Some people save for a college or wedding fund. We've also been saving for a relocation fund. I suspect there are lots of CA parents doing the same.
Yes, would suggest that there are states with more opportunities for young people, unless they are in a position to score tech or professional employment that would make it worthwhile.
Just moved out of CA this year. Here is one BIG difference I saw immediately: auto registration for our vehicle in CA: $660-new state registration: $184. Love reading your articles Mr. Rufo!
Moved from Smyrna, Lockheed Aircraft, in 1968. Boy, the state has changed since then. Bought our house here in New England from a family moving to northeast Atlanta twenty-eight years ago.
AB 1078, introduced by Assemblyman Corey Jackson, will prohibit school districts from removing books from their libraries and instructional materials unless they receive the approval of the California State Board of Education. Currently, school districts have local control over the process for removing materials from school libraries and the curriculum in classrooms. This bill will give the state control over this process and involve the state in the local school district’s decision-making process.
Apr 23, 2023·edited Apr 23, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
We're doomed for the moment and sorry, but I blame white affluent female progressives who would rather stick a hot poker up their noses before voting for a very competent white man over even a cupcake. As their victim status diminishes, they cry out for acceptance, but it will never come. Many Americans of Hispanic decent and Asian decent would accept a conservative alternative that meets Californians where they are. But the CA GOP is tragically incompetent. We get what we deserve because we don't push back. California is worth the fight. There are millions of conservatives in the State that the conservative movement has abandoned.
Wrote this recently while bemoaning the very same issue on a national level, certainly on a Massachusetts level. This is my blog / book site: myopic.me
You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
Was gonna say. The Eagles knew of which they spoke...
A friend of mine recently moved to Utah. I asked her what was biggest difference? (Besides the obvious reasons for leaving California.) She said, “People are friendly and when you call a government agency they answer in two rings and they’re happy to help.”
Sounds nice!
It is nice. Our oldest son and his family moved to Salt Lake City from Austin, Texas. My son compared it to stepping out of a Salvador Dali dystopia into a Norman Rockwell world that makes sense. We could not be happier and more relieved that our two grand daughters will get to grow up in those surroundings.
Gift your California corporation to a homeless person and walk away. Do not reply to any correspondence, other than to give them the name of the homeless person.
This is a riddle inside a non sequitur swallowed by a snake slithering away into tall grass.
I find it puzzling that you moved to the People’s Republic of Washington. The Leviathan of the Democrat cabal is as voracious in its brain-eating and wealth extracting behavior as it’s southern role-model (New PRC).
Meanwhile, I admire your work and am pleased you are a neighbor. Misery loves company. 😎
My wife had a great job in tech and I was independent, so I moved to Seattle. And Washington is blue, but also has zero state income tax, which puts a nice restraint on things.
WA has zero state income tax for now — which is great compared to CA’s 10.3% rate we were paying before we moved north. But Inslee is working hard to grab every single dollar he can get his hands on. “As last week was coming to a close, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling on Friday, March 24, permitting the imposition of a state tax on capital gains.” - Forbes, March 27, 2023
https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickgleason/2023/03/27/ruling-in-favor-of-washington-state-capital-gains-tax-a-big-win-for-progressives-is-an-outlier-in-the-overall-trend/?sh=201ce4996725
Sadly, many leave blue states due to high taxes, excess regulations and restrictions, etc. only to vote for Democrats in the states they move to. Go figure!
True, although I've seen data that indicates that most of the recent blue state emigrants are voting red in places such as Texas and Florida.
That's good to hear. And, thank you so much for the important work you are doing!!
And many who leave blue states - like we did - will NEVER vote Democrat and never have.
When I departed California after living in the Valley for 30 years. I sold several items I would no longer need, a 2 & 1/2 ton truck ,and a 30 foot boat. The truck was no problem, the Boat became an anchor. I sold it almost a year before I moved, after relocating I began receiving "Tax Due Notices" I responded by Identifying the Buyer but still kept receiving these notices. All taxes were paid up to the Date I sold the Boat, apparently the new owner ignored the Taxes, so I did the next best thing, after sending the new owner all the Tax Due notices. I Ignored them also and they finally stopped Bugging me.
The dead-hand of self-replicating "process."
California is evolving into a Communist bureaucratic country where successful citizens know the right people to bribe.
I would gladly pay a bribe to get this done! (For legal reasons, this comment is sarcasm.)
Look at the kid glove preferential treatment of Sam Bankman-Fried, as well as the Silicone Valley Bank leftist bailout fiasco.
That's exactly what I was thinking when I read Mr. Rufo's post! We are at the point where a person needs to have criminal connections to make anything happen. It's easy to understand now how that system gets going!
Very late Soviet - post-Ceaușescu Romania is a an example - the ex-Communist bureaucracy ruling for its own benefit in his absence. So, no more "Directives" - just the bureaucracy that formerly "implemented" them!
An apt analogy
Mexico's governing structure had a similar malaise and incompetency (though much smaller relative to its country) on the eve of its "vertical subversion." It is a dark thought - but California is, after all, one of the four border states.
In the case of Mexico, nobody there ever advocated for decriminalizing crime or regarding criminals as a "protected class." The void created by systematic incompetency can yield to new power, if there is something worth having. California is worth having.
California is a one-party state, as it was in Mexico under the PRI.
Yes. And when the Party/its members becomes decadent and makes extra-legal side-deals with non-state actors - and uses the State to conceal them/provide impunity to all concerned...then this is an invitation.
It' s not that the Cartels overpowered the State, so much as they were made a de-facto minor partner whose influence has grown. They have advanced by exploiting decadence and filling voids left by both the decadence of the State and the receding of civil institutions. They prey on weakness.
Perhaps the PRI still lurks about as the current President spent 13 years there. Mexican writer Enrique Krauss suggests that ALMO is actually not a socialist but more of a Latin American Strongman more concerned with raw power. His pick to succeed him will probably be current Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum who will put Latin American woke ideology on steroids.
UGH, I'm a relatively new resident and took me 1.5 years to deal with Dept.. of Housing and Community Deveopment to get name change on title (due to divorce) on my manufactured home. Snail mail ,email, fone calls, day trip on Southwest fly into Sacramento, etc. It made me think "this is what it must have been like in E. Europe in the 70's"! I keep telling myself I'm just here for the weather and the scenery (the desert)
Awful, and typical for California.
"California has sought to entrap them in a bureaucratic net."
Truer words were never written.
I admire your tenacity in dealing with this, and your decision to leave.
Your situation ( mirroring all our futures) is more Kafkaesque than Kafka. 😢
I still live in the Sacramento area, Chris. Our family lives with us and it very elderly, so we're not going anywhere, but we're now having conversations with our teen daughters about how we will ensure they don't start their professional / working lives here. Some people save for a college or wedding fund. We've also been saving for a relocation fund. I suspect there are lots of CA parents doing the same.
Yes, would suggest that there are states with more opportunities for young people, unless they are in a position to score tech or professional employment that would make it worthwhile.
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but forfeit his soul?
There are more important things than a high-tech job.
Sum it up, brother. Unless you lose your life ...
Just moved out of CA this year. Here is one BIG difference I saw immediately: auto registration for our vehicle in CA: $660-new state registration: $184. Love reading your articles Mr. Rufo!
Excellent!
It is like leaving NY. That's why I am now in FL.
Oh nooooo! I'm in NY, yet to extricate myself from our own version of LaBrea.
After swearing an oath to never vote for Democrats, please feel free to move to Georgia.
Moved from Smyrna, Lockheed Aircraft, in 1968. Boy, the state has changed since then. Bought our house here in New England from a family moving to northeast Atlanta twenty-eight years ago.
The Woke Tar pits. Mass Tar pits, here.
Get going!
Yes, New York is doing its best to keep up with CA’s bureaucratic bs, as businesses continue to flee
Louis Rossmann moved from NYC to Texas to escape bureaucratic hell. Very interesting reports on his YouTube channel.
AB 1078, introduced by Assemblyman Corey Jackson, will prohibit school districts from removing books from their libraries and instructional materials unless they receive the approval of the California State Board of Education. Currently, school districts have local control over the process for removing materials from school libraries and the curriculum in classrooms. This bill will give the state control over this process and involve the state in the local school district’s decision-making process.
Many bad ideas gain steam in Sacramento.
We're doomed for the moment and sorry, but I blame white affluent female progressives who would rather stick a hot poker up their noses before voting for a very competent white man over even a cupcake. As their victim status diminishes, they cry out for acceptance, but it will never come. Many Americans of Hispanic decent and Asian decent would accept a conservative alternative that meets Californians where they are. But the CA GOP is tragically incompetent. We get what we deserve because we don't push back. California is worth the fight. There are millions of conservatives in the State that the conservative movement has abandoned.
California GOP should be in a position to turn these issues into political wins, but the party is in a very deep hole.
Wrote this recently while bemoaning the very same issue on a national level, certainly on a Massachusetts level. This is my blog / book site: myopic.me
https://www.myopic.me/2023/04/dont-be-narcissist-like-elijah.html
All they gotta do is conjure up an evil Republican bogeyman and all the residents fall in line and vote blue as they're told.
Sad but true.
Was he the first of the black White Supremacists?