Again, I do not editorialize, but I note these vast transformations over the last 20 years that are the paradoxical wages of unchecked illegal immigration from Mexico, a vast expansion of California’s entitlements and taxes, the flight of the upper middle class out of state, the deliberate effort not to tap natural resources, the downsizing in manufacturing and agriculture, and the departure of whites, blacks, and Asians from many of these small towns to more racially diverse and upscale areas of California.
Fresno’s California State University campus is embroiled in controversy over the student body president’s announcing that he is an illegal alien, with all the requisite protests in favor of the DREAM Act. I won’t comment on the legislation per se, but again only note the anomaly. I taught at CSUF for 21 years. I think it fair to say that the predominant theme of the Chicano and Latin American Studies program’s sizable curriculum was a fuzzy American culpability. By that I mean that students in those classes heard of the sins of America more often than its attractions. In my home town, Mexican flag decals on car windows are far more common than their American counterparts.
With the incoming administration of socailist democrat Jerry Brown I do not forsee California's situation getting better anytime soon. And if the flight to other locales continues, I say only partly in black humour - "Will the last of the middle class please turn out the lights?"
3 comments:
It was 1987 and I was retiring from the USAF and got a dream job working on the next generation fighter at Northrop. California looked like a land of milk and honey with my retirement, a plum job, a working wife and future riches in store.
After six months living temporarily in Fullerton and then Redondo Beach while wife was trying to sell the house in Colorado, it became apparent that California was in the last stages of Roman Empire decline. Smog, traffic jams, crime, drugs, earthquakes, runaway inflation...and those are the good parts!
Fulfilled my one-year minimum contract and returned to Colorado where I never regretted a minute of my life.
Lu and I are among those, like Ed and so many others, who have recognized that california has gone past the point of no return. We stayed exactly as long as we had to and then left. We took my retirement, her business, our tax money and our work ethic and moved it all to Utah. California can kiss my middle class ass goodbye.
Jerry Brown set the stage for what you saw in 1987 Ed and apparently the voters had no memory. So they elected Jerry back in.
Six, alot of people have done what you and Ed have. Gotten out. Unfortunately for every hard working American, a liberal seems to have migrated also bringing their poison ideas with them to try in a different setting.
At this point, all we can hope is when California financially tanks other semi-looney states will put a brake on their road to ruin. The brakes can be applied if the voters are fully engaged as they were for 2010 which saw many state houses flip conservative. We just might pull it out, but only if we work at it.
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