Patterico's Pontifications

11/4/2010

California Conservatives: Whither Shall We Flee?

Filed under: General — Jack Dunphy @ 11:31 am



[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

Apropos the question posed by our host below, i.e., why do conservatives choose to remain in California, I put to the readers a corollary: To where should the conservative California family flee?

I’m eligible to retire from the LAPD any time I choose, and Mrs. Dunphy and I often ask ourselves why we’re still here in Los Angeles. The question is all the more apt in view of the election that returned Jerry Brown to the governor’s office and Barbara Boxer to the Senate. These are not hopeful signs for the Golden State, which is already on the brink of bankruptcy.

So I ask: Where would an ex-cop and his family find happiness? Your suggestions are welcome.

–Jack Dunphy

117 Responses to “California Conservatives: Whither Shall We Flee?”

  1. Eastern Washington, near the Spokane area, especially the high desert areas near the Grand Coulee dam. The land is dirt cheap out there and you can build/buy a home for next to nothing.

    h2u (e053c3)

  2. With the Real Estate Market the way it is,Florida.We live north of Orlando,Fl(30m),and the weather,while not LA,is great.Let me know when you will arrive, i’ll have a big orange waiting.

    Charles Curran (e1813d)

  3. Would not the bankruptcy of the California state government create opportunities?

    Michael Ejercito (249c90)

  4. Bastrop Texas is very charming.

    All of Central Texas is pretty. Austin itself is a lot of fun, but I’d suggest living 20 minutes away where it’s just easier to deal with daily life with the mess. Austin traffic reminds me of LA (it’s just less distance from A to B).

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  5. If it’s conservatism you want, Utah is hard to beat. However, Utah taxes food and income. Somebody has to pay to school all the children.

    norcal (325bd5)

  6. There’s a lovely house across the street from us. Ann Arbor is pretty Democrat – but there’s a very strong conservative community as well. And Michigan is a great place for hunting, fishing, and boating. Wanna check it out, we’ll put you up!

    Gesundheit (aab7c6)

  7. I seem to recall someone saying Utah would be the best place to have a flat tire. That’s probably true.

    Mormons have always been very nice to me, even though I’m just not on the same page on many issues.

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  8. New York City.

    Torquemada (a8a9b2)

  9. Florida has a lot of great sand and beaches, a competitive porn industry, and I hear they’ve got a great new Senator and a soon-to-be retiring Republican governor.

    Why not make your way there?

    Christoph (8ec277)

  10. torquemada:
    I assume your suggestion was made in your persona of inquisition torturer.
    new york and california are opposite ends of the digestive tract of the United States, and I can’t tell which corresponds to which orifice. Or perhaps they both are the same orifice and there is no mouth.

    great unknown (261470)

  11. My sister lives in California. I tell her – ABC – anywhere but California. I live in a blue state – New york – and I am thinking of leaving. Options are Texas and/or Tennessee. I am looking at north-west Texas and south-east Tennessee. Maybe north-west Georgia. I have relatives in Tennessee and North & South Carolina and like the climate and terrain in north-west Texas. The taxes are also important.

    Longwalker (996c34)

  12. Sunny AZ.. red baby red all around and great real estate bargains also!

    niteFLyer (aaf994)

  13. I think you’d REALLY, REALLY like the Ozarks of Arkansas. Cheap land, a moderate climate, clean water and neighbors who’ll leave you alone when you want them to and be there immediately if you need them are just the start of a long list. Ya’ll come visit, y’hear!!!

    RoyDog (2c896d)

  14. Nashville, Tennessee. Lots of former Californians moving here with Nissan and other companies coming for the tax breaks.

    TRO (fe467f)

  15. Florida has a lot of great sand and beaches, a competitive porn industry, and I hear they’ve got a great new Senator and a soon-to-be retiring Republican governor.

    Why not make your way there?

    Comment by Christoph

    You’re from Florida? Who did you vote for?

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  16. Nashville, Tennessee. Lots of former Californians moving here with Nissan and other companies coming for the tax breaks.

    Comment by TRO

    Tennessee isn’t perfect, but it’s beautiful and charming and a real success story in many ways. They have better democrats than California.

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  17. Apropos my comment on the other thread, I think California conservatives ought to do what our liberal countrymen have done and move into a smaller purplish-blue state and try to turn them red. Some good candidates are Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Colorado (to counterbalance the expat California liberals who have turned it blue), Hawaii (if you can afford it and stand island fever), and Arizona & Nevada (just to help staunch the creeping liberalism that seems to be sprouting in both those states).

    JVW (eccfd6)

  18. probably nowhere, because you know Brown and his ilk will make your pension dependent upon your staying in the State.

    thegreatsatan (0efecf)

  19. Of course, I’m in Central SE Texas, so I suggest here! Home of Bluebell ice cream, and pretty much right between Austin and Houston without the attendant nuttiness of either.

    Bastrop really is quite nice too.

    X_LA_Native (8cf3bd)

  20. jack

    Well, i would suggest going to texas based on a few posts i have put up over the last few weeks, but… um, does your specific job at the police involve alot of going outside, i mean out of the AC car and everything?

    If so, try finding a place similar to texas, but cooler. as it is, i don’t know how the cops down there do it. “I am chasing a suspect on foot. okay now my shoes have actually caught fire… and it is spreading up my pants legs…”

    Aaron Worthing (e7d72e)

  21. Sir, you would be most welcome out here in Colorado to balance out all the leftwing Californians who came here to enjoy the benefits of our state … and then voted for leftwing Democrats to ruin it.

    SPQR (159590)

  22. Boise

    http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/real_estate/1009/gallery.best_places_retire.moneymag/6.html

    It’s fantastic here. Everything SoCal was when I was a kid, with duck hunting to boot.

    Flashman (b976d5)

  23. Texas, where else?

    We’re as deeply red as they come, we love members of the community who are current or former law enforcement, we have no state income tax, we’re just about the only state left to have a blooming economy at this point in time, cost of living is low, you can buy a house equivalent to, even better than the one you have in CA AND invest the other 2/3rds of the sale price in the stock market and you will never again in your life meet a stranger.

    Y’all come on down now, y’hear?

    Emperor Misha I (aa942c)

  24. Nashville, TN, Middle Tennessee in general or Southern Alabama. The Democrats here have to pretend they are conservative but nobody here is buying that anymore and they are losing in droves. It takes a while to adjust to how friendly everybody is, that water falls from the sky, and that SEC football is taken so seriously.

    Nick Refugee From CA (c9a300)

  25. Come to Texas. No state income tax. Conservative. Being an ex-cop or ex-military means your neighbors think more highly of you. Friendly people. (My car burst a radiator hose when I was in rural East Texas. At least ten people stopped offering to help. One guy taped up the hose with duct tape, another brought water to refill the radiator and two rode wing on me as I drove to the nearest town to make sure I did not get stuck again.)

    Grew up in Michigan. Came here after graduating from college. Won’t leave Texas after raising three sons here.

    Mark L (1385c7)

  26. Thought Texas had killer property taxes..I don’t know why anyone would retire and buy a house, anyway. Rent! Then you can go anywhere you want.

    Northern Idaho is nice. Like Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, St. Marie.

    carol (5a5d33)

  27. I still love my hometown, but the winters alone would kill you – and that goes for most of the other Midwestern states as well. Watching the upcoming mayoral race here just may convince those sitting on the fence to leave for good – none of the candidates have any balls to do an actual forensic accounting of the past two decades of fraud and corruption in City Hall under Daley.

    Dmac (ad2c6a)

  28. You’re welcome to join us in Florida. The only downside is the humidity. And unlike Texas, you’re always within an hour or two of a beach. If you want a taste of cold weather, stay north of Orlando. If you want to avoid cold weather, move to Southwest Florida if you want to really change from urban living, or Southeast Florida if you want to stay in a big city environment. Like California, the Hispanic element is huge. Unlike California, the Hispanic element is overwhelmingly here legally, and much more small business oriented. Also, as a legacy of the Cubans who fled Castro and the Nicaraguans who fled the Sandinistas and the Columbians who fled the drug cartels, there is a conservative edge to the Latino community here.
    We don’t have earthquakes or mudslided, and the brushfires normally stay on the edges of town, and hurricanes arrive only after several days of advance warning.
    Because of the real estate bubble, you will find houses on the cheap side. Of course, compared to California, even during the bubble, Florida housing was cheap compared to California.

    Politically of course, this is a state which has had GOP in the governor’s house and dominating the legislature, so you can blame all problems on the GOP.

    kishnevi (2d88a8)

  29. Here’s the thing, though: if all California conservatives move to Texas, Texas will end up being a state of 30 million which votes 70% Republican in every election. Sure, they will get 50+ House seats, probably 40 of which can be gerrymandered for the GOP, but that bounty will still only yield exactly two Senate seats for Republicans.

    We need California Republicans to help take back smaller states that are drifting purple and blue. The two New Mexico Senators have every bit as much voting power as the two Texas Senators.

    JVW (eccfd6)

  30. carol’s smart to suggest renting when you’re older.

    A lot of the benefits of buying a home have changed over the years. I think appreciation is less assured as interests rates can’t fall ten percent over the next 30 years.

    And you can call someone to fix your roof or water heater, which is really nice when you’re older.

    Another point about Texas: we have emerging issues in law enforcement that may lend themselves to retired LA police.

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  31. Forgot to add what was mentioned in other threads: Florida has no income tax. To have an income tax would require an amendment to the state constitution, and those amendments need a sixty percent supermajority to pass. So no state income tax. Property taxes, however, might be high depending on where you live; state sales tax is six percent, with local options adding either a half percent or one percent, and significant exemptions to what is taxed. The legislature makes yearly runs at limiting those exemptions and fails every time.

    kishnevi (2d88a8)

  32. Having just read the post at HotAir about redistricting, I suggest you wait until that’s in process and then do the patriotic thing. Identify a congressional district that could benefit from a crucial number of additional conservatives!

    Gesundheit (aab7c6)

  33. A lot of the benefits of buying a home have changed over the years. I think appreciation is less assured as interests rates can’t fall ten percent over the next 30 years.

    Plus, we’ll probably be saying goodbye to mortgage deductions on our income taxes soon.

    JVW (eccfd6)

  34. Timing is everything. With that in mind:

    1. When is Calif’s next major bond auction?

    2. Can Obama, w/out congressional approval, order the Fed to bail out Calif by buying the state’s bonds (presumably with money printed out of thin air)?

    3. Would that put the US over its debt ceiling?

    ras (b7f440)

  35. Quick math: the fed wants to purchase $600b of US debt, aka “printing money.”

    600b/300m = $2,000 more debt for each and every citizen, including children.

    Might these numbers have more impact when stated per capita?

    ras (b7f440)

  36. I’d say Texas, Nashville, Atlanta or Utah would all be good choices. I’ve lived in all those areas and all are congenial and friendly.

    Dr T (e01a6b)

  37. Come on down to the Redneck Riviera – Baldwin County, Alabama or the western Florida panhandle. Extremely conservative, cheap cost of living, beautiful beaches.

    radar (98f691)

  38. Florida has no income tax. To have an income tax would require an amendment to the state constitution, and those amendments need a sixty percent supermajority to pass. So no state income tax. Property taxes, however, might be high depending on where you live; state sales tax is six percent, with local options adding either a half percent or one percent, and significant exemptions to what is taxed. The legislature makes yearly runs at limiting those exemptions and fails every time.

    Damn, that’s sounding pretty good.

    Christoph (8ec277)

  39. I’m in Katy, Texas, but as pointed out above, Bastrop, Texas is Beeeeaaautifulllll. Lost Pines region is stunning.

    rudytbone (913207)

  40. BTW, that Formula 1 track is going to be between Austin and Bastrop. If it ever actually happens, that is.

    But that’s a key location for the future of Texas in many respects. I can get from Bastrop to Long Island or Long Beach in a matter of a few hours, since it’s close to an airport.

    I almost bought an old house there to restore, but chose north of Austin instead. One thing about moving south of Austin is that whether you head north or south, you run into economic growth within minutes. Property values there will be stable, to say the least.

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  41. I thought you all went to Idaho.

    Brent (087e1f)

  42. Tenn because all my exes live in Texas

    Joe (6120a4)

  43. Flee to Arizona. You just have to be ready to produce papers when you’re stopped. And watch out for the Mexicans with AK47s and machetes.

    Or Massachusetts.

    JEA (4ddf0a)

  44. Well, JEA, I usually am able to present a driver’s license when I’m pulled over or stopped. And I want the police to have some kind of negative reaction to people who do not show a driver’s license when they are stopped.

    So yeah, AZ could be a decent place, aside from the fact the feds have thwarted that effort.

    Boston is a beautiful place to visit. I feel safer in AZ despite the surge of problems they are fighting.

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  45. There is no topic that will keep JEA from making an ass of itself.

    Jack – suburban Indianapolis is very nice, great cost of living especially compared to what you are used to. There are oodles of great golf courses, reasonable taxes, great Governor, and nice people, with some obvious exceptions. but winter is teh suck. Tuscumbia Alabama, Round Rock, Texas, northwest Georgia, and the Florida panhandle are all good.

    JD (1ab591)

  46. A vote for eastern Oregon (east of the Cascades) if you like snow country. Unlike the blue counties west of the mountains, we welcome Californians as soon as they learn to drive :-), and a bunch of the folks who moved in here were either from Cali or Washington. You do get the frustration of a state government that has no clue (warm and wet Salem bureaucrats scolding us for having the gall to use studded tires “when studless tires work just fine on bare pavement”. Like we see bare pavement in Winter.

    Carry permits are easy to get and housing is cheap. OTOH, MS13 keeps trying to set roots and some Islamists were trying to set up a terrorist training camp in a ranch in Bly, but…

    We bailed in 2003, learned to drive (properly) and we’re doing fine.

    Red County Pete (356e28)

  47. Like suggestion #1– check out the towns surrounding the Lake Chelan area in the North Cascade mountains. The Columbia river, apple orchards, four different seasons, beautiful country and responsible government. See Entiat, Pateros, Winthrop, the Methow valley and even Okanagan, WA.

    John425 (848837)

  48. My plan for retirement 20 years ago was to move to Vashon Island, Washington. I had 10 acres on the island and it was an idyllic place. Unlike Bainbridge Island, it has no bridge. The population is about 10,000 (or was last time I checked) and it has its own high school. It and the Bainbridge HS are the two top ranked in Washington state.

    About 20 years ago, there was a proposal to connect the island to Tacoma and the peninsula by a bridge which would resemble the Mercer Island arrangement where the bridge goes across Lake Washington with one stop at Mercer. There was a community meeting to be held at the high school to discuss the proposal. 10,000 people, the entire population of the island, showed up and 99.9 % of them voted no. So there is still no bridge.

    There is a ferry to Tacoma that is a car ferry, plus another car ferry from the other end of the island to West Seattle. Then there is a foot ferry from the north end of the island (same terminal as the W Seattle ferry) to downtown Seattle. All the ferries run from 5 AM to 2 AM. You can go to Seattle for dinner, parking the car in the ferry parking lot.

    My impression at the time was that the island was bit more conservative than Bainbridge and quiet because few cars come over. It has a nice country club if you play golf. I don’t know what the housing prices are like now. I sold my two 5 acre lots about 10 years ago when it was apparent I wasn’t going to make it up there. I think most of the island has a 5 acre minimum lot size although there are a few smaller parcels. I can’t remember if there are any multiunit dwellings.

    That is a nice option near a big city but with privacy and no traffic. It is in the rain belt. The San Juan Islands are further north with less rain but too far from Seattle for a day trip.

    I also like the Cour D’Alene area near Spokane. I spent some time up there many years ago (like 50).

    Mike K (d6b02c)

  49. Another option for retirement is to move to Longview, Washington on the Columbia River. No income tax on that side (The initiative failed) and you can shop in Oregon where there is no sales tax (Is that still true ?).

    I know some people who did that. It resembles the situation in New Hampshire, where the Vermonters all drive to NH to shop to avoid sales tax. Vermont has income tax but most of the residents are poor or gov’t employees. The houses on the Vermont side are much cheaper, so that compensates.

    Mike K (d6b02c)

  50. Texas. It’s California with – frankly – better manners and more sophistication (what passes for society in California is cafe society at best here, thanks to the Southern strand in the Texan DNA).

    Markham S. Pyle (05e96f)

  51. Y’all are welcome in Missouri. Stay out of the cities (KC and StL) and it is as conservative as you can get. If you would like to stay urban and yet be conservative, Springfield is a great place right near an awesome lake. Up where I live, near Columbia, it is beautiful. We may not have a beach, but we do have grass and trees. My wife is from the LA area and she loves it 🙂

    DanH (3ca105)

  52. Oh and I forgot to mention, housing is so much cheaper here you will probably get twice the house for half the money.

    DanH (3ca105)

  53. My daughter lives and works in San Francisco and even before the election of Moonbeam was planning to leave and return to Washington state. She is very tired of 50% of her salary being taken for taxes and the economic idiocy (she was an econ/math major in college) of virtually everyone she knows.

    The amusing thing is that her job allows her to telecommute from anywhere on the west coast, so she figured out that she can get a huge payraise while reducing her expenses dramatically.

    Once she is here, she will join in encouraging our Congressional representatives in NOT bailing out California. Which means it is going to get much worse down there before it gets better.

    iconoclast (38828b)

  54. I agree with others who’ve nominated Texas, and would simply point out that there is an enormous variety within Texas. While there are some things that apply everywhere in Texas (no state income tax, for example), I think there’s an even bigger contrast among Austin, Houston, and Dallas, for example, than is found between San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Big city, small town, traditional, international, high tech, agricultural, mountains, beaches — whatever, you can find it here.

    Houston, in particular, well deserves its reputation as a spectacularly good place for assimilating new Texans, and our sprawl would be familiar to any Los Angelenos. We have no zoning, which reflects a very fierce respect for private property rights going back many decades. If you’re bothered by the eclecticism that promotes, then you would probably be more comfortable in buttoned-down, well-organized Dallas. If you can live without major league baseball and football, San Antonio also has a fine quality of life with a comparatively low cost of living — qualities which have attracted lots of military of the military personnel who’ve passed through one of the big bases there to choose San Antonio for retirement; and they, in turn, have brought a conservative prosperity since WW2 that it previously lacked.

    You do have to head up to New Mexico or Colorado for winter snow sports.

    Beldar (05bf33)

  55. I’m partial to the Redneck Riviera myself. Anywhere from Pensacola to the west and just east of Destin (I would avoid Panama City). Lots of military near Pensacola.

    I also loved Coeur d’Alene, ID. But, I just couldn’t handle the cold weather. But it is lovely and the people lovelier.

    Ed from SFV (c16c43)

  56. I really can’t recommend Dallas. Voters down there just decided that things were so good in Detroit and Los Angeles that they would follow their lead and elect an all-Democrat county government.

    The suburbs aren’t too bad, though.

    Ag80 (743fd1)

  57. I can’t tell you where to go but I can tell you that if you like Mexican food you are going to really miss California. I have relatives in Gig Harbor, Washington and it’s really nice there. Zero grafitti, smart people and they don’t have to lock up the spray paint at the local Home Depot.

    glenn (0af9f1)

  58. Beldar’s comment about the huge variety available in Texas is very true. From Amarillo to Brownsville, El Paso to Beaumont there’s a huge amount of geography and polities available.

    Houston might fit your needs socially and financialy. The Hispanic population might make you feel right at home.

    But the brutal summer heat has to be re-adjusted to every year. It still comes as a shock to me even after many decades. The consolation is there’s almost never any snow.

    Looking Glass (ea1936)

  59. Cour D’alene and also Park City, UT are devastatingly beautiful, in almost all seasons.

    JD (c8c1d2)

  60. I live in Ohio. Where should I flee to?

    Chris (7626bd)

  61. Beldar’s comments are correct, but since we “key” vehicles with Texas license plates, if you sky you best live here in Colorado.

    (j/k)

    SPQR (26be8b)

  62. sky=ski

    SPQR (26be8b)

  63. if you like Mexican food you are going to really miss California

    There is plenty of actual Mexican food (as in, not Tex Mex) in Texas. You do probably take a bit of a hit from the absolute 5 star restaurants, but I think the dining in Austin is excellent. Shoreline on 1st beats all but a handful of places on the West coast, IMO.

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  64. Texas–anywhere. We do have beaches. Mom

    Barbara Frey (c61f87)

  65. ROFL

    SPQR (26be8b)

  66. Loquacious D., heck I found mexican food in Prague.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  67. Springboro area of southwestern Ohio is very nice and low cost with many amenities favored by retirees with the exception of cold weather.

    Can’t say enough nice words about Reno, NV.

    richardb (f45665)

  68. I would be very leary of South Texas. 20 years ago I would have recommended it heartily. But now with the Mexican drug wars going on, it just isn’t worth the risk of going over the boarder. My parents retired near Brownsville in the 80s. It was great going over the boarder to eat, etc. Housing is still cheap, good weather, plenty of golf, and Padre Island. It is hotter than hell in the summer. I miss the old days.

    BT (74cbec)

  69. My wife (an MD) and I (software engineer) made the decision to flee in 2007. We wanted someplace with no income tax, good city services (we’d been in the country with problematic water, sewer, and internet service), close to a major airport since we wanted to do some traveling, and not too far from Southern California where we have elderly relatives (which ruled out Texas for us). We ended up in Henderson, NV, and it’s worked out reasonably well for us. Would have been better if we could have gotten rid of Harry Reid, of course.

    PubliusNV (a3a62a)

  70. Take some time and look around, at different times of year. Look up some retired coppers that have moved out of the area and see what they think. Watch the news, …when a BFMV is on the local news, you have found a place where there is not much crime, like here in SE Idaho. Most coppers go north to Sandpoint etc, but we found the area around Poctello perfect for us. Property is affordable, the weather is not too bad (for a place with four seasons) and the people are wonderful. But you will miss good Mexican food! If you like outdoor activities, the intermountain west is the place to be.

    415woman (654ef8)

  71. SPQR – twelve years ago (has it been that long?) when i was travelling in europe for six months, mexican food was the thing i missed most: it was either entirely unavailable or, when available, a really bad imitation made with inferior ingredients.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  72. I don’t recommend trading earthquakes for hurricanes, which rules out Houston. San Antonio is nice but may seem a bit dull compared to Los Angeles. The bedroom communities of Austin and the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex are probably going to be your best bet. You would be a 15-30 minute drive away from everything you can do in Los Angeles, the weather isn’t always as hot as L.A., and the crime rate is much lower. There are quite a few California ex-pats who can help you with the mild culture shock and if you have any liberals in your family there are plenty of blue dog Democrats that will start them on the road to conservatism.

    Soothsayer (cd33be)

  73. Houston also has excellent Lebanese and other Mediterranean food. Few people lose weight when they visit Houston.

    Aphrael, this may explain some problems with California propositions.

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  74. I guess you could say that was a wasted vote? I remember some guy in 2004 dressed as a Nader ballot and an empty Jose Cuervo bottle (he was a wasted vote).

    Loquacious D (b54cdc)

  75. Well first downer is that I believe California taxes your pension no matter you move to. At one point they even tried taxing military retirement if that person lived in California, even for a bit, while in the military but retired in another state.

    zdudey (907f46)

  76. I would invite you to Colorado, but it is due to Californians that we are stuck with a Leftist governor and 2 socialist senators. If you are looking to escape liberalism rather than bring it with you, come on over.

    Craig (00885c)

  77. Wanna check out Arizona real estate? Be my guest

    Gazzer (1b7d21)

  78. St. George, Washington County, Utah, especially if you are adverse to shoveling snow in your retirement. Yet, Brian Head ski area is less than a two-hour drive away. Vegas is a two-hour drive in the other direction. We moved here two years ago from Torrance, CA, and we love it here. Lower taxes and insurance rates, affordable housing prices, beautiful views of mountains and red-rock cliffs, friendly, helpful people, and a deep sense of community and volunteerism are all found here. We also enjoy the many arts and concert venues in the area. We are non-LDS, but that has not been an issue.

    Zoltan (f80707)

  79. aphrael, well I won’t say that “Czech Mex” is good …

    SPQR (26be8b)

  80. Still no sales taxes in Oregon. The Blue half passed a stupid-crazy tax “on the rich” and small businesses, leading to a lot of companies deciding to pull up stakes, but even the Portland loonies realize they’d have to pay sales taxes. On the other hand, we just got a recycled Dem for gov, third term, and he really wants the tax.

    Don’t know if the Realtor website still gives a property tax estimate for listings, but it can be very useful.

    Red County Pete (7add5a)

  81. I don’t know what you do and don’t like for activities.

    If you’re a deep sea fisherman, Florida is an obvious choice, but if you like the snow, we’re useless. [I’m an ex-Californian now living in one of the bluest parts of FL.]

    Most of the country is far cheaper for housing than Southern Cal, so you almost can’t go wrong there unless you pick a northeastern state.

    If you want to help turn a purple state red, consider New Mexico. Land is cheap. You can pick your climate depending on the altitude you choose (broad slopes off the continental divide). Gun rights are accepted even by the Democrats.

    NickM (90c402)

  82. If I were any of you who have fled Cali and found bliss elsewhere, I’d keep it a secret. Californians seem notorious for moving in to a new state, city, and compelled to try and remake the new digs into image of the state they just fled!

    Dana (8ba2fb)

  83. Dana,

    You’re right. Did I say I lived in Reno? My mistake. I actually live in Washington, DC.

    norcal (986979)

  84. I guess you could say that was a wasted vote?
    Reminded me of this photo from The Onion.

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (a18ddc)

  85. You should check out Lafayette, LA. Small city with a lot of culture and great food. Close to New Orleans and the Redneck Riviera. Lots of live music, low cost housing, low taxes, and conservative. My husband and I lived there for 20 years, and we loved it. There is a great free music festival in April called Festival International that is just great…You should try to visit then for a great time. Also, there is a great family Mardi Gras there!

    Cindy Freeman (26bf86)

  86. Simple answer for any Californian who likes the mountains and doessn’t want to go too far — anywhere on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

    shipwreckedcrew (bafbcb)

  87. The state of Washington could use a few of you sane Californians fleeing the mess there. Bill Gates Sr.’s income tax measure failed in a landslide! We just new a few thousand Californians in strategic locations and we can flip a few house seats and a US Senate seat.

    The strategic areas to relocate:

    – Beautiful Bellingham, Anacortes, and the San Juan Islands. All in WA-2.

    – Bainbridge Island, northern Seattle suburbs. WA-1.

    – Olympic Peninsula, Pacific Coast. WA-6.

    – Tacoma area, Lacey. WA-9.

    AP (08f047)

  88. aphrael, well I won’t say that “Czech Mex” is good …

    SPQR and aphrael, believe it or not, there is pretty decent Mexican food in Budapest at two places, Taqueria Arriba and Iguana Bar & Grill, both of which are owned by a native Coloradan.

    I heard too that there is decent Mexican food in London, but I haven’t experienced it myself.

    JVW (eccfd6)

  89. JVW, haven’t been to Budapest yet.

    But the fact is that “Czech Mex” is all over Prague. I found it at a score of different pubs and restaurants, including one in a non-tourist section of Prague near my hotel.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  90. _____________________________________

    why do conservatives choose to remain in California,

    I don’t think the leftism of California per se is what makes me ponder the idea of bailing out on the state. I’d say the breaking point will be if too much of its population becomes too intimidating and depressing. If too many people in the “Golden State” become downwardly mobile, semi-literate, sloppy and Third Worldish.

    Then again, I think of Oregon and Washington as being comparatively homogeneous, or less diverse, than California but not much less mindlessly liberal. So on second thought, a lot of leftism regardless of the demographic characteristics that goes with that does make go “phooey!”

    However, it will be both liberal-berserko politics combined with overwhelmingly scroungy demographics that trigger total exasperation and impatience, and therefore a need to throw in the towel.

    I’d assume my counterparts in countries like Mexico, if they want to protect their sanity, realize that voting with one’s feet is the only vote that makes sense. (This certainly doesn’t apply to all those immigrants who are very liberal in their native country and quite liberal in their adopted homeland—ie, similar to many of the people immigrating to California.)

    Mark (411533)

  91. Colorado. Yeah, Colorado was more purple than red this election cycle, but it’s a great place to live, and there are lots of relatively conservative areas (e.g., anything south and/or east of the E-470 beltway; I happen to live in Parker). Besides, we could use more conservatives here to help the Colorado Republican Party do a better job of picking and vetting candidates. ..bruce..

    bfwebster (2f56b4)

  92. Sir, you would be most welcome out here in Colorado to balance out all the leftwing Californians who came here to enjoy the benefits of our state … and then voted for leftwing Democrats to ruin it.

    Comment by SPQR — 11/4/2010 @ 12:26 pm

    Ditto for PA, done in by the libs and RINO commuters from NJ and NYC.

    Having just elected Pat Toomey to the U.S. Senate, kicked Kanjo out on his ass, and taken full control of Harrisburg, we’ve shown we’ve still got a fighting chance.

    Matador (654b6d)

  93. Bill Gates Sr.’s income tax measure failed in a landslide!

    Good! They were telling the same old lie: “It will never go up.”

    Yeah, right.

    Patricia (9b018a)

  94. Jack: We had the same decision when our Bishop, CA house sold in 2005. No income tax in WA. Property then was about 2/3 of CA property. Property tax is about 1/3 less. Sales tax is 8.5%.

    We settled in a rural area near Sequim, WA. Rain, about 15″/year. Snow in the driveway one year in five, so far, which the neighbor cleared. I don’t get the sense of community here that Bishop has and I miss that. K-12 school system is 1st rate. Community College is nearby. Two excellent independent booksellers are 15 miles West, and an outstanding used bookseller is 30 miles East. Good to great boating, fishing, and hunting opportunities. WA is a Shall Issue state. Local LE seems as good, or better, than I’ve seen anywhere. Electric rates are half what we paid in Cali (.065/Kw). We are on well, with pond water for irrigation, and septic, so no bills, rationing, or utility taxes. No county rubbish service, and private haulers are way too expensive. So buy a $500 trailer and haul your own for about $20 every 6 weeks. Gas price $3.12/gallon today.

    Terrific local hospital does everything except backs, brains, and hearts. Local docs are 1st rate. The artsy fartsy crowd provides several community theaters, bands, a symphony, half a dozen choral groups, lots of local jazz groups.

    Having said all that, in a do over, we would look for a smaller town in Eastern WA near the OR border. In winter here, the humidity and chill hurts old bones. Oh, and the lefties: they hurt my head sometimes.

    gnholb (4fbede)

  95. I’d like to head to Texas, and I add my vote to those above urging you to consider that destination too.

    Mitch (8f369c)

  96. Yo, Matador, if Jack wants four seasons, he should check out northeast Pa. Poconos are getting ruined by all the damn New Yorkers moving across Jersey and in, but Wyoming and Susquehanna counties are nice… and you’re only 3 hrs from the Jersey shore, 2 hours from Philly, and about 2 1/2 from the big rotten worm-infested apple.

    either orr (ee5c8d)

  97. Jack: someplace where you can continue to work. You won’t be able to count on that California pension, when the city or CALPERS or whoever covers you defaults.

    Sorry about that, but that’s the way it is.

    Kevin R.C. O'Brien (fdb485)

  98. Killeen, TX isn’t such a bad place, if you don’t mind the sound of the occasional artillery shell. 😉

    John Hitchcock (9e8ad9)

  99. We would be more than happy to have you and your family here in Arizona. We are a right to work state, taxes are low, we are run here by Republicans (and Jan Brewer was just re-elected), and we have Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Sheriff Paul Babeu cracking down on illegals in the state. And we had a report last night that the economy improved here for the first time in over a year.

    Come on here, bring your jobs, bring your families. The weather is great, the food is great, we have wonderful cactus and the Grand Canyon, and we have all-Republican (read: conservative) rule. What’s not to like?

    Bernard Catalina (c302ab)

  100. I expect a lot of California public employees will leave the state in retirement. Odds are that Brown & co will tax everyone into oblivion, and someone with a pension can walk away from it all.

    Sandpoint is the traditional place for LAPD to retire to. Oregon used to be OK but Portland is dominating the politics of the state with lefty programs and taxes. The east side of the Cascades is nice, though.

    Ernst Blofeld (31fe5b)

  101. Come to Aiken, South Carolina. I call it the Graden of Eden.

    Krusher (a7735e)

  102. That’s Garden….

    Krusher (a7735e)

  103. Here in MA, the lefty-liberal establishment have driven so many businesses and people from the state, we will be losing a congressional seat (unless the libs can lure enough “undocumented” people to the state). And yet, the voters of this state think the establishment is doing a fine job so they re-elect the nitwits.

    J (2946f2)

  104. Officer Dunphy, you should move to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. We’re close enough to Philly and New York that you can get there easily, but it’s a small town in exurb, not suburb distance.

    If you forget to lock your door at night, it’s not a problem. We’re not completely crime free — no place is — but we’ve had two murders in this county so far this century.

    We have nice Victorian architecture and two traffic lights in the whole town. The summers are cool enough that we get by without central air, and while te winters are cold, they’re not brutal, South Dakota cold. Housing prices are exceptionally low.

    The Dana in the Poconos (3e4784)

  105. Come to New Jersey. (I know – everybody is going — What the #$@!?)

    Chris Christie is doing his best to hold the line on taxes, and you are near the cultural amenities of NYC and Philadlephia without actually having to live in those Marxist dumps. Even in SE Jersey (Ocean, Atlantic & Cape May Counties), you can make it to the “city” and back in one day.

    As for real estate, sure it’s expensive near the two big cities, but south of I-195 and east of the NJ Turnpike, it’s actually pretty reasonable. And you can be at the beach in 30 minutes.

    Eric R. (cdbef5)

  106. Well you COULD move to Columbus, Ohio. Very compact, very livable. Commuting is a breeze; people actually know how to DRIVE!

    There are state and local taxes but not onerous!

    Lots of law firms, much lower hourly billing rates than California but the cost of living is considerably lower as well!

    And they’d “get” you!

    Gayle Miller (d14034)

  107. Of course, in Columbus, Ohio, rooting for the Ohio State Buckeyes is a requirement!

    Gayle Miller (d14034)

  108. Left the left coast in 05 after 53 years in Silicon Valley. The past 5 years business took me out there a week every two months. I was happy to leave every time. The seacoast of NH is awesome. No ST income tax, no sales tax 45-50 mins from Bean Town/ 4 hours to NYC. Housing is 1/2 cost on average. No one lives in CA anymore you just survive. It will get worst too. Total insanity sums up the driving forces there. Live free or die! This is a big beautiful country check it out.

    George Z (SF Native) (427c6b)

  109. Ask James Ellroy about life in Kansas.

    Ken in Kansas (e6cde4)

  110. You seem to be made of stern enough stuff to do well in Alaska. No state income tax or sales tax. The state government believes the resources belong to the people, so we get a share of the royalties every year as a permanent fund dividend. And the two most recent governors made use of the line item veto to reduce state budget pork. If you don’t mind a little winter for a change this place is like Heaven in the summer with long days, great scenery, fishing, hunting, hiking, and great neighbors…

    Robin in Anchorage (53130c)

  111. May I suggest Blackwater? Might as well double dip for a while and see the world.

    Joseph Somsel (ac62d4)

  112. I expect a lot of California public employees will leave the state in retirement. Odds are that Brown & co will tax everyone into oblivion, and someone with a pension can walk away from it all.

    Some of them will be in for a big surprise. A cople we know moved to Washington from San Diego County; she had retired from working for the high school system for a few decades (not a teacher). They found to their dismay that retirement medical benefits did not continue if they moved out of state.

    Oregon is nice, but Portland and Eugene are left-wing lunatic asylums that skew the politics of the rest of the state. OR-4 just returned Peter DeFazio to Congres; he’s a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who is trying to introduca a bill of impeachment agains Chief Justice Roberts.

    But stay away from Portland and Eugene (and Corvallis, we’re a university town) and the rest of the state’s citizens are fairly conservative/libertarian. No sales tax. Beautiful countryside. Most areas are self-sufficient and reasonably distant from unsustainable big cities, in case of a zombie outbreak.

    Weird fact: Oregon and New Jersey are the two states in which you are not allowed to pump your own gas.

    Mike G in Corvallis (fd5fcd)

  113. Bandon Dunes. Nuff said.

    JD (0c5de4)

  114. “You seem to be made of stern enough stuff to do well in Alaska.”

    You have to be tough there. Everything is frozen solid 80% of the year, you have to break through ice just to take a bath.

    And, the mosquitos are big enough to bring down light aircraft.

    Dave Surls (c9150f)

  115. Hi, Neat post. There is a problem with your site in internet explorer, would check this… IE still is the market leader and a good portion of people will miss your great writing due to this problem.

    Polo Shirt On Sale (a77885)

  116. Kentucky
    *Inexpensive Real Estate
    *Moderate weather
    *Beautiful Outdoors Life: Lakes, Rivers, large primordial Woodlands preserved by an extensive park system
    *Horse Racing and beautiful Horse Farms
    One of the last places you can ride cross-country in woodlands
    *Friendly people/ who will give you the shirt off their back
    ***LOW TAXES********
    *Conservative Political Climate
    *Preserved large number of historic sites and HOMES: (some owned by trusts for tourists, others can be bought if you agree to maintain them) related: antique stores everywhere
    *Live and let live climate/ Last bastion of really eccentric and funny as h-ll people
    *Where else can you find the “Greased Pig” festival?
    *Corny Joke capital of the world
    *Great names on towns: Intercourse, Kentucky / Hell Fer Certan, Kentucky / Fairycastle, Kentucky / Grand Junction (7 buildings), Kentucky
    *Never ending supply of both fresh veggies and fruits but also southern fried calorie laden goodness – your choice
    *People don’t care if you aren’t PC (as long as you stay away from the five major universities and assorted number of private colleges and of course, working for the public school system)
    *Largest cave system in the world –including the ones not open to tourists
    *Strangers smile at each other, People still carry grocery bags for older folks, rescue stranded strangers on the interstate
    *snow in the winter, extrodinary flower gardens everywhere in the spring, hot, sunny summers- grass so green visitors call it painted, and glorious colorful falls – no season is missed.

    Chill'In (d77c52)


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