Responding to Paul Thornton, Letters Editor at the Los Angeles Times, who wrote: Commentary: If you want to leave, fine. But don’t insult California on the way out
Paul, did you ever think that when Joe and Sharon said, “You belong here,” it wasn’t a compliment?
The fact that Joe and Sharon joined hundreds of thousands of other Californians in leaving our state is a loud and clear message that something is wrong.
Maybe Joe and Sharon were saying that even though the property tax may be a little higher wherever they are moving, the price of heating oil is cheaper, the price of gas is cheaper, the price of insurance is cheaper, the price of food is cheaper, the price of electricity is cheaper. And all that means more in their pocket after a hard day’s work.
Wherever Joe and Sharon are moving to in New England, even if it’s a liberal city like Boston, they won’t have to worry about repeat criminals taking over the streets or a state that feels it is more important to close prisons than protect its people. I am sure they won’t have to worry about a state legislature that spends more than five years debating whether the human trafficking of a minor should be considered a violent felony.
And even if they move to New York, I’m going to bet that despite having a liberal Governor, that state isn’t facing a $68 billion deficit and then decides to spend another $7 billion to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants, all at taxpayer’s expense.
That’s what we have in California, and we have it because the voters in California want it that way. So you have the state you want. You belong here.
And don’t feel too sorry for yourself. You’re not the one who needs to explain yourself. You like the destruction political policies have done to a place with every gift and resource one could imagine. The people who have to answer for all this are those who know better and still live here, for now.
And when your other neighbors leave, they won’t need to trash California. The people who live here do that just fine all by themselves by electing people who take a blessed state and turn it into this.
