Why is the Bay Area so Liberal? (camps, hospitable)

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by mateo45

Wow, then you know about many of these issues firsthand, and no doubt you've also had alot of interesting "experiences" with the "system". FYI, I have friends who work for the local DHS, and man, they always seem to have some amazing 'tales to tell'!

As a sidebar, I think my current "fav" is hearing about the mother who couldn't afford her rent or buy food for her kids (enter DHS), but she could manage to find $7K to pay for a "boob job" (for her "self-esteem" of course)!

My most interesting experiences happened in the Capitol while testifying in legislative policy and fiscal committee hearings and dealing with the Governor's Office. What I learned over the years was that well thought out, analytical testimony didn't really get heard because the votes were already decided in caucuses before the hearings. Your elected representatives hard at work for the People ~ NOT!

If I have a somewhat jaundiced view of California governance (and the federal as well), now you know why!

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

My most interesting experiences happened in the Capitol while testifying in legislative policy and fiscal committee hearings and dealing with the Governor's Office. What I learned over the years was that well thought out, analytical testimony didn't really get heard because the votes were already decided in caucuses before the hearings. Your elected representatives hard at work for the People ~ NOT!

If I have a somewhat jaundiced view of California governance (and the federal as well), now you know why!

I think I largely share your view on the way the federal govmt. is run and definitely do about the state. I won't call what happens in Sacramento "running the state" because that would imply that they're doing something.

[ndfmnlf]

Originally Posted by californio sur

Curmudgeon is a closet liberal. He occasionally reacts to certain things but lacks the ideology of the Right. Too much "California" in his old bones!

Uh uh....don't you out him. He might get lynched in Missouri.....

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

Uh uh....don't you out him. He might get lynched in Missouri.....

Nah! They love me here. Not only am I a good neighbor but I'm spending California-sourced money locally, to include paying our property tax. But best of all, I'm a combat veteran and we're respected and valued in this state!

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

I think I largely share your view on the way the federal govmt. is run and definitely do about the state. I won't call what happens in Sacramento "running the state" because that would imply that they're doing something.

Well, you do know that they only work three and a half days a week while in session, even though they get payed on a full-time basis, don't you? They leave Thursday afternoon to return to their districts to give them a long weekend to pick their constituent's pockets....ummm....fund raise!

[californio sur]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Nah! They love me here. Not only am I a good neighbor but I'm spending California-sourced money locally, to include paying our property tax. But best of all, I'm a combat veteran and we're respected and valued in this state!

Didn't you get the cold shoulder if not outright antipathy when the people found out you were from California? I understand that there is a pronounced anti-California sentiment in large parts of the nation [esp the Pacific NW & South]. Did they chase you with burning brooms like in the Frankenstein movie? Did you immediately change your car plates to avoid being run off the road?

[ndfmnlf]

Originally Posted by californio sur

Didn't you get the cold shoulder if not outright antipathy when the people found out you were from California? I understand that there is a pronounced anti-California sentiment in large parts of the nation [esp the Pacific NW & South]. Did they chase you with burning brooms like in the Frankenstein movie? Did you immediately change your car plates to avoid being run off the road?

That's why he's still in the closet. He wears his Nazi uniform when out in public, but in secret, he communes with us liberals on the internet.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by californio sur

Didn't you get the cold shoulder if not outright antipathy when the people found out you were from California? I understand that there is a pronounced anti-California sentiment in large parts of the nation [esp the Pacific NW & South]. Did they chase you with burning brooms like in the Frankenstein movie? Did you immediately change your car plates to avoid being run off the road?

None of the above. We find that the people deal with us on an individual basis. Were we to outwardly lament what we left behind in terms of shopping, politics or social issues and try to Californicate Missouri we'd be hauled-up short. Not only do we not do that, it's not our reality. It was about a month before we got MO licenses and license plates but the only remarks we ever heard were from former Californians who have moved here as well.

One of the reasons we selected SW MO was because it's a bit more cosmopolitan than other places here with the exceptions of KC and St. Louis. Our neighbors in our small community of 212 homes come from all over the country, to include CA. All of us are here because we want to be and none of us are desireous of returning from whence we came. We interact locally as well as with one another and both within the community and without, we've always been treated politely, respectfully and in a friendly and accepting manner. Some of that is because there's a lovely mix of southern and mid-western neighborliness here. The rest is because that's how we treat the people we interact with, shop from and whose restaurants we patronize.

A place like this is decidedly not for everyone. One of our advantages was that thanks to the military we are both well-traveled and a place such as this was no mystery to us at all -- especially not my wife who lived in the AR Ozarks for seven years only about 45 miles south of our current home .

What can I say? This place suits us in retirement. If we were still working, perhaps not so much!

[RedJacket]

Originally Posted by wburg

Only if by "economically conservative" you mean "having a massive deficit."

Its the "massive deficit" that has caused SF to become "economically conservative".

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

That's why he's still in the closet. He wears his Nazi uniform when out in public, but in secret, he communes with us liberals on the internet.

I didn't realize that liberals were so unfeeling that they'd use the term "Nazi" to someone who lost seven members of hios family at their hands during the Holocaust, but perhaps I've been mistaken and all that touchy-feely-tree-hugging is just a ruse.