For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: middle-class families are fleeing blue states.
The likely reasons behind these troubling trends are things rarely discussed in "the narrative"--concerns like high costs, taxes and regulations making it tough on industries that employ the middle class. One clear culprit: out of control state spending. State spending in New York is second per capita in the nation (anomalous Alaska is first); California stands fourth and New Jersey seventh. Illinois is down the list but coming up fast. Over the past decade, while its population grew by only 7%, Illinois' spending grew by an inflation-adjusted 39%.The problem here is more than just too-large government; it lies in how states spend their money. Massive public spending increases over the past decade in California, New Jersey, Illinois and New York have gone overwhelmingly into the pockets and pensions of public employees. It certainly has not flowed into such basic infrastructure as roads, bridges and ports that are needed to keep key industries competitive.
If the states are, as Justice Brandeis stated, the laboratories for democracy, what does this mean for the United States?
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It means demographic shift
November 3, 2009 - 10:33 ET by notonmywatchIt means demographic shift and economic collapse.
"laboratories for democracy" - State is nation, state is sovereignty. Federation is association, federation is friendship, federation is mutual help. The states are nobody's laboratory, nobody's "testing ground for the real thing".
And America is not a democracy, it is a Republic! Democracies always devolve to populism, which always turns to totalitarianism.
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We are almost there now...
November 3, 2009 - 10:51 ET by c5then"Democracies always devolve to populism..."
We are just about there. When the choices for President are Barack Obama and John McCain we are not that far away from populism. And now when people think that they are going to get free health care at no cost to them (like the scooter ads)...
Totalitarianism is not that far away either as the current regime attacks all and any oposition and demonizes those with different views.
Throw 'da bums out!!!
Before it's too late.
www.loyaltoliberty.com
→ What it means
November 3, 2009 - 10:34 ET by Cool ArrowIs that Texas better get ready for another slug of yankees.
Can't say as I blame them. Don't imagine violent crime has anything to do with it?
ACORN - creating or saving votes since 1970
Yep, my wife and I fled CA for TX
November 3, 2009 - 11:08 ET by legacyrepublicanCool Arrow,
You are not too far off.
Yep, my wife and I fled CA and now live in TX.
The other day, I was talking to a friend in CA and for the first time he was thinking TX might be so bad after all. He is tired of RINOs and Dems destroying the once great state of CA.
My vote is not that TX leaves the union but that it exercises its option to split into five states and thereby throw the Senate into chaos with 8 more Republican Senators. ;]
We've lived in Cali all our
November 3, 2009 - 11:34 ET by KJ_sezWe've lived in Cali all our lives and are thinking of getting out as well, and we're both willing to just walk away from everything - house, business, family, friends - at this point. My wife just got back froma 3-week stay in Texas, and it's now at the top of the list (edging past Arizona) of places in which we'd like to be able to say we found political asylum.
TX over AZ
November 3, 2009 - 11:54 ET by legacyrepublicanMy wife and I are native Californians who got priced out of the state.
Yea, we tried AZ. State had too many RINOs and places where ACORN signs up UFOs too.
Tx has quite a few positives ...
TX has better cost of living. I have observed that our $125k home here would go for $500k in CA and $250k in AZ.
Lots of Republicans and conservatives. Mark Davis in the morning.
No state taxes are a bonus. Our commute to work, a mere 5 minutes. 8 minutes if someone stops for drive-thru coffee. 1 1/2 hours if we stop for BBQ. 3 hours if we stop at the Chick-Fil-A and let the kids play first.
The negatives are no mountains, Tex Mex ( Velveta meets beans ), and the freeway system was designed by a drunken cowboy civil engineer who spit tobacco on a map and says "dang, there should be an intersection!"
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
November 3, 2009 - 13:35 ET by ConservativeRexSi Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
~Amen
November 3, 2009 - 13:39 ET by choselife3xThe Marxists aren't coming, they're already here.
In order to be pro-choice, one must first be born. Ah, the irony.
http://themessengerd...
There are a few mountains,
November 3, 2009 - 13:38 ET by Dan The Man 2There are a few mountains, well tall hills down south and up in teh panhandle and towards NM. Tex Mex is the best and if youre getting velveta and beans then it aint good, my sister who lived in Sacremento for 35 years misses shredded beef on her tacos. Around where I work in Dallas you can get a variety of styles including velveta and beans, but I prefer fajitas.
And yes the freeways are a mess but they work.
Welcome to Texas ... btw chili dont have beans in it, it is meat and spices with teh occasional masa thickener.
→ Down in the Valley
November 3, 2009 - 13:45 ET by Cool ArrowThe area around Garner State Park, Lost Maples, Leakey, is beautiful.
But to a Texan like me, them there's mountains.
ACORN - creating or saving votes since 1970
Legacy, I was with you all
November 3, 2009 - 13:40 ET by ConservativeRexLegacy, I was with you all the way until you mentioned freeways. I don't know about you, but I sure like our feeder roads next to our freeways. You miss your exit, just go to the next exit and make uey under the freeway. Other then that, welcome to Texas! All we ever ask or expect from folks who come here is to produce, work, earn your keep.
That, and no, we don't care how you do it up North. And be careful about our TexMex, we kinda like it like that.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
True, Rex
November 3, 2009 - 14:55 ET by BlondeHere in Florida, many stores have signs that say "there's a $10 charge if you tell us how it's done up north".
Florida has many of the benefits of Texas (except for the huge influx of East Coast libs)....no state income taxes, pretty good roads, and of course the fabulous culinary influcence of Cuba, the Carribean Islands, and Central and South America. The housing crash has made buying a home affordable again. Our roads are pretty good, and well-maintained because we have no freezing/thawing concrete issues here. The weather is beautiful. Plus the state has miles and miles and miles of some of the best beaches in the world.
Not much in the way of mountains (except the local fill)....there are some hills up in the north half of the state. We have a couple of nice swamps, too....you may have heard of our biggest one, The Everglades.
When I leave.....I'm heading south.....way, way south.
I hope he fails, too.
But have Floridians learned how to vote yet?
November 3, 2009 - 19:04 ET by iiiireaderI was scared away from Florida by Hurricanes and Hanging Chads.
Seriously, I lived in Florida back in the seventies - it was a little hot and muggy for me - but that's what air conditioners are for.
I have to admit missing the food in California since our move to Texas. In the end, a good thing, as I've since expanded my cooking skills to include ethnic foods. Homemade ends up even better.
We escaped to TX from Cali in 2005
November 3, 2009 - 12:37 ET by iiiireaderWe brought our youngest daughter to finish her degree here. My elder daughter and her husband moved from Marina Del Rey to Plano about a year later.
What drove us out was a combination of wanting to escape the liberal circus that had pitched its tent in So Cal and our property values skyrocketing (I mean, if someone wanted to give us $1M for our property who was I to tell them they were crazy... BTW, we had 27 offers of $1M in one day of showing - simply nuts.)
My elder daughter was able to buy for their first home a 3500 sq ft house with pool and three car garage in Plano while in Cali they would have had to pool with two other families to buy a 1200 sq ft 3 bd 1 bath house. Sure the prices have now gone down some but nearly enough.
While I suffer from allergies in Austen and find the city too liberal for my tastes (and plan to move to Plano in the next couple of years), I have no regrets about leaving California. Our move allowed me to shut down my internet needlework resell business and move strictly to designing - something I love to do. We have a lovely home with trees and a peek-a-boo view of Lake Travis. I talk to people and wave at strangers on the streets - something you might get locked up for in L.A.
Life in Texas is good.
†Reader
November 3, 2009 - 12:50 ET by RESTLESS 1While Austin is pretty liberal, there is an up and coming city about 80 miles south of you that is not. Think about it.
(And no, I'm not with the Chamber of Commerce.)
"If the man, with the power, can't keep it under control...some heads are gonna roll." -Judas Priest
Does the town suffer from Cedar Fever?
November 3, 2009 - 19:06 ET by iiiireaderI found out I was extremely allergic to the mountain juniper and found relief north of Dallas. Does the up and coming town have a name? I've been to San Antonio a couple of times but we usually head north instead of south.
I was referring to SA
November 5, 2009 - 00:44 ET by RESTLESS 1And yes, cedar fever can be pain in the fall and winter months, (LOL, like we HAVE a winter). The summers can be brutal, but Dallas is no picnic in August either.
Anyway, welcome to Texas. We have a saying here, everyone in Texas has two hometowns, where they are from, and San Antonio.
"If the man, with the power, can't keep it under control...some heads are gonna roll." -Judas Priest
Brookstone fires Christian because he wasn't "tolerant."
November 3, 2009 - 10:55 ET by nolotrippenWorldnetDaily has an article on how a Christian was fired for not being "tolerant" after having to tolerate a lesbian in his face about her gay marriage. I sent the following to Brookstone (http://www.brookston...):
After reading the news that one of your employees was fired for his opinion, I have decided not to shop at your outlets this year. Tolerance is not a one-way, left-wing street:
http://www.wnd.com/i...
“It is almost impossible to distinguish a politician from a gangster.” (Will Durant, 1931)
Bail-Out?
November 3, 2009 - 10:57 ET by slickwillie2001If the rest of our country is forced to bail out California and other poorly-run states in order to subsidize their liberal programs and thug unions, there will be an explosion of anger in middle America.
Liberalism Must Be Stopped
November 3, 2009 - 11:21 ET by GothampcSeveral months ago Rush Limbaugh made an excellent observation. He said that if you look at the shifting demographics, you will see that liberals have ruined all the blue states with higher taxes, bigger government, etc. Now all the liberals, having made the blue states unliveable, are moving to the red states and will eventually ruin them. If the liberals try to move to states with lower taxes and less government, their liberal ideas will ruin the states they move to. They must get rid of their bigger government mindset.
Goth, It seems to be a
November 3, 2009 - 11:51 ET by Chris NormanGoth,
It seems to be a pattern, once economic success occurs, the liberals sweep in to spend everything - because "we can now afford it". It's the same rationale with "national healthcare". That, somehow, since every other industrialized country has it weighing down their economies, the US should have the burden also. Like it's some kind of hallmark of achievement.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Washington State
November 3, 2009 - 12:16 ET by SouthJersey1953That's what happened to Washington State. When I grew up (50s and 60s), it was relatively conservative. Then all the hippies from California started moving up.....
You can fix a lot of things, but, you can't fix STUPID! - Joe Murray
Maybe some states will have to go out of business...
November 3, 2009 - 11:43 ET by Red Jeep…then be amended in whole or part to conservative dominated states that can balanced their budgets without taxing everything and everyone in the state.
Sounds implausible but why not? Life has consequences and liberalism should too. It either works or it doesn’t and there should be consequences when it fails.
I could not believe what I read about New Jersey this week. 9K average property tax bill? I thought my property taxes were high in upstate New York, but they are a bargain compared to New Jersey. How can you keep taxes like this going and expect people to stay in the state? Ridiculous.
Apparently a major concern
November 3, 2009 - 11:54 ET by motherbeltApparently a major concern in the world right now is President Obama's weight.
The Drudge Report attributes it to Rigorous workouts and high-stress basketball games
Aides to the President say he's not chain-smoking...and he does occasionally miss meals.
The Daily Mail is worried that he is "missing too many meals to run the country"....Sniff, sniff.
What a difference to when Bush became President: the only concern they had about his weight and workouts was that he was an exercise fanatic and was taking time away from his job for his "obsessive" workouts.
Re Anorexia
November 3, 2009 - 12:31 ET by slickwillie2001We really don't know; remember along with the missing school and test records we saw no medical records on the Bamster. He could be another walking-dead JFK for all we know.
This may also be why we didn't see the expected carefully-staged cheesecake photos from the Bamster's vacation on Marxist Vineyard. Chris Matthews and Andy Cooper were so disappointed.
LOL, a nice afternoon laugh
November 3, 2009 - 13:46 ET by IgnatzJFahrquar... Marxist Vinyard
"You should always tell the truth, because if you tell the truth you make it the other person's problem." Sean Connery
Alaska's situation is
November 3, 2009 - 12:01 ET by dscottAlaska's situation is unique due to it's proximity to the Arctic circle with tough environmental conditions, most products have to be imported and high cost of transportation. And yet due to oil drilling each resident gets an annual check. Let that be a lesson to liberals.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
Re Alaska
November 3, 2009 - 12:50 ET by slickwillie2001I would like to see an honest evaluation of what offshore gas and oil production as well as the promotion of terrestrial exploration would have meant to California in the form of additional income including income taxes, sales taxes, etc. They might not be in quite that pickle that they are were it not for just this one aspect of their radical leftist policies.
Florida too, slick
November 3, 2009 - 13:02 ET by BlondeAthough we're not nearly in the crisis state that California is, from a budgetary standpoint, many many Floridians support offshore drilling.
It's the liberals who are holding it back, here. But if we could convince everyone how it would keep their pocketbooks fatter by allowing offshore drilling, we could make it work here, too.
I hope he fails, too.
I don't watch the Network News shows often...
November 3, 2009 - 12:21 ET by Dufresne...and this morning I reminded myself why. CBS was on this morning, I couldn't find the remote, and while it was blabbering on in the background, I noticed:
A discussion about how if the Republicans win today in the various races it won't really mean that the country is tired of Obama or that folks are leaning more conservative. Predictable, huh? In that conversation, Schaffer (Bob maybe? don't know, I never watch the networks) said that the "hard right" was running the Rep. party. Do they ever refer to the radicals in this administration, or anybody for that matter, as "hard left"? Can't remember anyone ever saying that on CBS.
That segment was followed by an interview with some health expert lady in which they went after Kellogs for saying that their cereals boost immune system (with all that is going on in this country and world, they decided that story had priority??)
That segment was followed by a Murphy Brown Reunion, in which they took the oppurtunity to poke fun of Quayle (of course).
And, it wrapped up with Vanilla Ice, live on the set performing "Ice Ice Baby" - no, seriously.
They are so irrelevant, culturally, politically, socially - the big networks are irrelevant in every way.
Illinois is down the list
November 3, 2009 - 12:57 ET by MidAmericaIllinois is down the list but coming up fast. Over the past decade, while its population grew by only 7%, Illinois' spending grew by an inflation-adjusted 39%.
Yep we are in pretty bad shape. So bad that taxes won't even fix it. Time to change our State Song. The present one is a sappy little jingle about flowing rivers but we need to update to an old Ray Charles tune:
I'm Busted
My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes and I'm busted
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound, but I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills that gets bigger each day
The county's gonna haul my belongings away cause I'm busted.
I went to my brother to ask for a loan cause I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog without his bone, but I'm busted
My brother said there ain't a thing I can do,
My wife and my kids are all down with the flu,
And I was just thinking about calling on you 'cause I'm busted.
Well, I am no thief, but a man can go wrong when he's busted
The food that we canned last summer is gone and I'm busted
The fields are all bare and the cotton won't grow,
Me and my family got to pack up and go,
But I'll make a living, just where I don't know cause I'm busted.
I'm broke, no bread, I mean like nothing,
"V"
November 3, 2009 - 13:51 ET by IgnatzJFahrquarOkay, so I admit I watched the original "V" series back in the early 80's and got wrapped up in the "effects" and storyline. (watched a reairing on SyFy ... yeesh we've come a long way baby on the effects part)
I told my son that they'll probably fill the new version with Eco-crap and Holy-on-High Gore-babble on how we are killing the planet (ala the remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still"). Then I saw this link on Drudge and laughed. I actually had the same thoughts ... I only hope it's true.
Not a big network show fan, but I've got it DVR'd (so as to quick skip the commercials)
"You should always tell the truth, because if you tell the truth you make it the other person's problem." Sean Connery
Re 'V'
November 3, 2009 - 15:15 ET by slickwillie2001When the Bamster throws back his head and looks down his nose at us, it has always reminded me of the way the V'n aliens would eat live rats. Funny that the series is back, maybe someone else is thinking like I do.
The Mentor and the Protege: http://www.redstate.com
This is how crime is
November 3, 2009 - 13:55 ET by ConservativeRexThis is how crime is handled in Texas also. She must have used the 'Joe Horn Model'.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/21507620/detail.html
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
Now that's my idea of gun
November 3, 2009 - 15:42 ET by KJ_sezNow that's my idea of gun control - aim twice, shoot once.
I'm still in shock weeks
November 3, 2009 - 15:45 ET by radiofitz34I'm still in shock weeks after Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize. I don't get it. I think Al Sharpton winning the Miss America pageant would be less shocking than this. Sorry I was so late to post this, but as I said, I was in shock for 3 weeks.
Dang I used to live at
November 3, 2009 - 17:21 ET by Dan The Man 2Dang I used to live at Pinemont Forest Apartments.
Great...that means they're
November 3, 2009 - 17:09 ET by RR GOPGreat...that means they're just exporting their tax and spend Libtardness to the red states.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
NJ gov's race
November 3, 2009 - 17:46 ET by ricklailEven after tonight it is going to take a long time to sort out the race. There are going to challenge after challenge over the absentee ballots. Don't look for a winner anything soon. The same could happen in the 23rd NY. The Dems are not going to give up-just like Owl Gore and Lurch Kerry.
Semper suprene nitens
OBAMACARE: If it ain't good enough for my Congressman then it ain't good enough for me.
This is one frog in the pot ..
November 3, 2009 - 18:03 ET by Flashman... who will not be staying in Cali to be boiled.