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Oh wow, interesting. It's funny this type of conversation takes place in the MO forum, lol. I guess I'll throw my personal opinion in, though, since everyone is doing so. I tend to recognize that many Missourians (not all) can be intimidated by Californians' personality (they have one, haha ... my view, sorry)! Lively, fun, confident, open-minded (on the most part from those I've met). I tend to think many Missourians are still a little out-dated, close minded, judgmental ... One reason why I can't wait to move to Oregon .. in my opinion the culture (based on people I have met) is more open minded, down to earth, friendly ... and less religious bible beating types. Just my opinion.
You make a good point...Missouri would not be considered a "progressive" State. I actually moved here from Oregon in 1989. I felt like I took a step back in time when I moved to SW MO. However, my personality adapted well and I still hung on to my beliefs and ideas but I always accepted the fact that not everyone thinks the way I do and that I am in no position to judge them. I am open-minded to other opinions and lifestyles, wether I agree with it or not. With all that being said...I know many that feel the same way I do and they are here in SW MO. I think we as a society spend too much time pointing out the differences in people and turn it into something bad when it does not have to be that way.
"Liberal" California is primarily found in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas as well as Sacramento City. Unfortunately, those are also where most of the political power in the state resides and it affects the rest.
It is creeping, however. Previously conservative bastions such as Orange County and San Diego are beginning to elect liberal representatives to the state legislature and the tide is decidedly beginning to turn.
I worked legislation for the state for 17 years and used to keep a file of stupid useless bills that were introduced, some of which were in my policy areas so I'd testify in legislative committee hearings to oppose them. Each year the file grew fatter than the year before.
I think California's biggest problem is it's totally polarized legislature that seems to think the state needs almost 3,000 new laws a year!
Once again, I think you're correct on every count here. The California Legislature is in session year-round except for some short recesses, whereas the Missouri Senate and House are in session for only part of the year. Though it will never happen, it would be so nice if our legislators could devote as much time to abolishing bad laws as they do trying to dream up ever-more cockamamie new laws.
Should current trends continue, I would think the economy of Texas, which was 60 percent the size of California's back in 2006 (when our state budget was in somewhat better shape) will quickly close the gap and become America's economic powerhouse. Texas doesn't suffer from artificially-created energy shortages in the way California has.
So many starry-eyed politicians and other influential people in California are trying to use the power of the state government to create new economic areas such as embryonic stem cell research (a hefty bond measure was recently passed to fund this) and the "green economy" where there is no proven market demand for these things.
California is ideologically divided almost down the middle, with Interstate 5 as the dividing line. Orange County and the San Diego area are nothing like they were in the 1980s to the mid-1990s. Sometimes former Congressman Robert ("B-1 Bob") Dornan would get just a wee bit animated on the House floor back in the day, but we could use a lot of his fire and zeal right now. For better or worse, we will never again witness people like him or William Dannemeyer representing coastal Southern CA. The most traditionally conservative areas are now in the Sierra foothills and north and northeast of Sacramento.
The charge that California is trying to take over the country is probably at least partly true, especially when it comes to their screwball ideas on environmental protection (Government Good and All-Knowing, Private Corporations Always Pillage and Rape the Earth, and We Must Regulate the <bleep!> Out of Them). Protecting the environment is unquestionably a good thing, but when it crosses the line from empirical data to an arbitrary set of religious tenets that you can NEVER challenge, you get budgetary chaos--and a lousy environment too!
Huge forest fires? California: It's global warming.
Floods? California: It's global warming.
Droughts? California: It's global warming.
Heat waves? California: It's definitely global warming and we must act NOW.
Cold snaps? California: It's actually a symptom of global warming, which is the larger picture.
You can't reason with these people! And I haven't even gotten to the excellent cultural topics Christina mentioned, such as the Hollywood movie industry spewing out PG-13 and R-rated crapola, or Northridge being about the main pornography capital of the world.
It may be hard to do (and it definitely has been for me), but if you're so inclined, try to get into a "We're Not Gonna Take It" mentality and fight back against this nonsense with lots of prayer and activism. If you can, try to counter your wholly-justified frustration with California with prayers for its repentance and repentance for the whole country. As individuals, we can strive to let God's light shine brighter through us and let it touch others. Even here in the Bay Area, our representatives have been taken a bit by surprise at the passion expressed by many at recent town hall meetings regarding "Obamacare" and other critical current issues. Think of Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." That can apply to rocketry and the motion of physical objects in outer space, and it can apply to tyranny and the desire for liberty, righteousness and freedom as well.
Thank God for our military, our police officers, firefighters and rescue personnel across our country on this September 11. (Happy 2nd birthday to my youngest niece, Hope! Had to throw that in too...)
Last edited by northbayeric; 09-11-2009 at 12:26 PM..
Location: Finally escaped The People's Republic of California
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Well, for one thing there are anywhere from between 35 to 42 Million Californians. So quite naturally there are alot of natives moving away as California deteriorates... Luckily Missouri isn't somewhere most of them want to go... So anyway, ( before the housing prices tumbled) you have some guy sell his way overpriced home in Orange County for 6 or $700,000 and buy a mansion in missouri. Then this family relizes that all the conviences of home aren't here anymore, and the Beemer is getting dirty on the gravel roads, and by god if you have acreage the grass doesn't mow itself, and those people next door have those smelly animals, and weird people with guns came to the door and wanted permission to shoot those poor deer we been feeding off the back porch, and how come the county doesn't have a Mosquito abatement program like the one back home...Blah Blah Blah
So they start to complain, and tell the locals how things could be so much better if they would just change, well the locals have lived like this there whole life it's normal for them, so why change it...the local are right....
and besides people from Southern California are weird..............LOL
Last edited by Cali BassMan; 09-12-2009 at 11:39 AM..
Well I guess I should chime in since I spent the first 39+ years of my life in California... I, too, have had the prejudice and stereotypes thrown at me. There's STILL a preconceived idea that Californians are all rich and have no concept of value. The "seller" on this end would like nothing better than to attract a "California buyer" to their home because they have plenty of money and to them "our place looks cheap"... I've actually suggested to my Cali buyers that we not mention where they are from because it might affect their negotiating power.
In response to the OP, I wonder if our natural envy of "rich" people laps over onto Californians just because of this misconception.
All of the Californians I've personally known (at least a dozen) have been for the most part perfectly normal people. None of them have been "rich". About half of them love California, and the other half dislike the bloated and ineffective state government and high cost of living. The ones that want to leave typically were more interested in places like Washington, Oregon, Colorado, or Texas...with the exception of the few ex-Californians I personally know residing in Missouri, none of them knew really anything about our state.
The last new Californian I met was a country boy from somewhere in the foothills of the Sierras. We both remarked that I was not what most Californians would imagine a Missourian to be like and that he was not what most Missourians would think of as the typical Californian.
Most of those people who think Californians are "rich" have likely never visited the state. I think it is the same kind of ignorance that can be found in some east- or west-coasters who think Missouri is a giant trailer park. We'd all be a lot better off if we dropped preconceived notions about others and actually got to know one another.
Homes in SoCal (and probably the real of the state) have been over valued for over 10 years. Now people are hanging on to their overpriced home hoping to recover or at least break even when the market goes up again (probably in about seven years)
The state government is one of entitlement and bloat, run by the loony fringe of both parties. When the cash was flowing no one really cared. Now one services have to be cut everyone is afraid their "programs" will be on the chopping block.
The last thing any state needs are a bunch of people in government jobs doing absolutely nothing for no real purpose.
Most people with common sense realize this, but politicians and the people empowere to maje these cuts are also aware of the spin the loud-mouth fringe play on the undereducated voter (of both parties) and pander to that element.
There's the idea that most Californians are very wealthy, and I think up until recently you would see a number of them who aren't truly wealthy but just want to live a wealthy lifestyle. Buying a big home with little or no money down and agreeing to an adjustable-rate mortgage, and/or leasing a fancy-schmancy BMW 7-series or Mercedes S-class. It's the more tony areas of California that get the lion's share of media attention, like Marin County north of San Francisco, and of course Beverly Hills. But most of California, especially when you go inland and east of Interstate 5, is to me, more down-to-earth.
There's the idea that most Californians are very wealthy, and I think up until recently you would see a number of them who aren't truly wealthy but just want to live a wealthy lifestyle. Buying a big home with little or no money down and agreeing to an adjustable-rate mortgage, and/or leasing a fancy-schmancy BMW 7-series or Mercedes S-class. It's the more tony areas of California that get the lion's share of media attention, like Marin County north of San Francisco, and of course Beverly Hills. But most of California, especially when you go inland and east of Interstate 5, is to me, more down-to-earth.
Boy did you hit the nail on the head. I know so many people that by all accounts should have known better.
I couldn't afford to buy a hone in Ca although the temptation was there to get in a adjustable rate. It suckered in a lot of people, but not people like me.
The down side was that it drove up home prices so high that hard working families like mine could never afford to by a home.
After the kids left for college, the wife and I moved into a nicer apartment community, We could afford it. We lived frugally but still tried to enjoy nice things. The crazy part was seeing all these over extended aholes driving top of the line hummers, beemers and benzs. Most were mortgage brokers.
Most of those people who think Californians are "rich" have likely never visited the state. I think it is the same kind of ignorance that can be found in some east- or west-coasters who think Missouri is a giant trailer park. We'd all be a lot better off if we dropped preconceived notions about others and actually got to know one another.
so true
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And I haven't even gotten to the excellent cultural topics Christina mentioned, such as the Hollywood movie industry spewing out PG-13 and R-rated crapola, or Northridge being about the main pornography capital of the world. 
They're all rich!
I've actually suggested to my Cali buyers that we not mention where they are from because it might affect their negotiating power. 
What he said...
so true
