What’s more convincing, voting by talking or voting by walking?
If liberal approaches work so well, why are so many people choosing to pack their bags and desert some of the most big-government states in the union?
However, Mr. Medved is optimistic in assuming this means a shift toward fiscal conservatism. He acknowledges,
The millions of resettlers who move their families to more sympathetic venues surely feel motivated by personal considerations more than ideology,
It’s not “more than” ideology, it’s “in spite of” ideology. Maybe this time the snowbirds and carpetbaggers will get the idea through their thick skulls, but why now when they never have before? I’ve watched my whole life as leftists move for financial reasons and immediately start trying to mold their new home into a fiscal basketcase exactly like the one they just left.
Like these La Raza idiots. They come to this country illegally–okay, they say they’re “reoccupying” it–bitching and moaning when they’re not bragging about how tough they are.
Riiiiight. They make the usual mistake of judging us all by Chattering Classes’ America instead of by Shotgun-Toting Grandmas’ America.
That second group will have the big-mouth invaders screaming, “No Mas, NO (grand) MAS!” And toot-sweet.
But, however fun to contemplate, beside the point. They come here because, at least for now, the U.S. still sucks less than Mexico.
La Raza: you’re coming here to both improve your lot and to change New Mexico into Old Mexico? “America sucks, you’ll get yours gringo, now give me my welfare, you racist bastards!”
Here’s some military advice, La Raza…why don’t you take over Mexico first? Why don’t you fix whatever is causing millions of “your kind” to ford the river into hated, hateful America? Otherwise some of these post-Mexicans will prefer to live under U.S. rule than La Raza diktat.
(What do you jerks call an Americanized immigrant, anyway? Uncle Tomas?)
((Ooooh, that’s a good one. Alas, too good not to have been used a million times already. But if not…mine! WORME’s! All hail your invertebrate master!))
Okay, another dead horse thoroughly tenderized. These creatures will always foul the nest until even they can’t stand it, then relocate and resume. Bet you didn’t know this fascinating factoid:
Progressive males, uniquely in the animal kingdom, mark their territory with a Number Two.
World's Only Rational Man 
yes, progressives shiit on the middle class … they insist on forced integration. If it makes sense to move the poorer HUD houses into better communities, where are the HUD homes on Matha’s Vineyard? Shouldn’t the elite be especially well situated to give a better environment for the underprivileged? But any “diversification” there is color or country based. But you still have to have big money or big connections. I wonder if their servant class has to commute by ferry, or if they have slave quarters.
And the elite that have a public beach by their house, hate to allow the public access to what they view as “theirs”. But if a storm comes, they’ll take federal assistance.
La Raza … “The Race” … yes, the race to get the hell out of Mexico before the drug lords chop your head off. The race to birth your baby here so as to glom onto American free goodies. Everything’s free in America, according to West Side Story.
But the joke might be on them. US citizens are required to fill out tax forms, even if out of the country. As we go broke, we might track them down to pay back taxes and penalties for non-filers … which would be 99% of the “anchor babies” of the last 40 years. But for now they are a protected class … must destroy all white American males first.
I have lots of sympathy for people in this country illegally, with a few caveats. Numero Uno is you don’t badmouth the lifeboat. It’s really that bad? Fine, get out and swim.
Good workers are an asset for U.S. I feel there are a lot of wealthy CA farmers or East coast elite that would prefer the Mexicans stay illegal, so they can continue to treat them more like slaves. And then taxpayers get to pick up the tab for health care and other subsidies for the rich employer. This tends to drive a wedge between Americans and the illegal immigrants. A worker visa program at least, would not be hard, but then the left would lose an issue to demonize conservatives with.
A guy with Mexican wife told me he thought a lot of middle class Mexicans have their kids in the US then go back. It is a sort of ace in the hole for their kid to have US citizenship. I think Ann Coulter says the only reason there is this “anchor baby” law is because of some misguided footnote from a judge.
A favorite local blogger just left Illinois for Texas, tired of the politics here, and the taxes that are sure to be coming. Our Democrat governor only won three counties, but he has Chicago, so the rest of us barely have a voice.
http://reason.com/blog/2011/08/26/looking-for-consistency-in-ric
At least some of the message has gotten through.
People don’t move between states because of ideology. They just don’t. A few people might move between countries for those reasons, but the the change they are seeking is far, far greater than the differences between states of our union.
No, the reasons people switch states are financial in nature (with personal reasons, like family or climate, being a distant second). People move to find or follow jobs, most often. People who are high earners might sometimes choose a state with lower taxes, and that is also a consideration among retired people (who, admittedly, are also influenced by climate, but few will incur an otherwise intolerable tax burden just for sunny weather alone).
The most important subset of people moving for financial reasons are the owners of mid-size businesses — businesses not tied down by geography for some reason, and with the resources necessary to uproot and replant a business elsewhere. We see ample evidence of this in the exodus from places like California and Illinois, and the influx to places like Texas. THESE are the people “voting with their feet” that states MUST pay attention to, and that the states ignore at their own peril, because it is these mid-size businesses that do the lion’s share of hiring, in both good times and bad.
I do believe my theory on this ties very directly to your sports league analogy. The states must be allowed to compete ruthlessly with one another, because competition strengthens both winners and losers, and the citizens – consumers of government services and of the respective advantages of living here rather than there – are the beneficiaries.
Therefore the solution, as it is with so many things, is the proper implementation of federalism.
You seem spot on. People with significant resources, who can adapt to changes in the local financial weather. Those are the movers and shakers. Apparently the BIG business are doing the same, only they’re thinking why not move out of the country entirely?
Ruthless competition. It seems so, so…ruthless…except in America the winners become philanthropic giants. Meanwhile the losers try again, or again and again and again, until they finally kick butt and have their own chance to become charitable.
It is the best setup in history. Now broken.
But not forgotten.