Au contraire.
I am much better off financially and in every other way after having moved back to California, and the same applies to my wife and family.
We're no longer scared to death about our kids being able to maintain health care coverage, we're enjoying a constantly improving infrastructure, our legal protections are vastly better, and our kids have been enjoying a better and more balanced education, too.
Our mortgage payment is cheaper comparatively than what we paid on the house in Texas that we used to own, and our carbon footprint is greatly reduced. We live in Whittier (next to Norwalk) and next week I have to be in downtown Los Angeles. I will be taking the Metro from Norwalk all the way downtown, paying less and beating traffic all the way there and back.
We are definitely getting a lot more for our tax value here than we did in Texas.
Food and gas are more expensive, but we don't have to drive as far, and you haven't seen produce till you've seen California produce, so it's well worth it because there's nothing else that compares ANYWHERE else in the country.
Our biggest problem here is that over-gentrification and wildcat real estate speculation have driven the cost of RENTS to ridiculous levels.
If you're a conservative property owner, the increasing value of your real estate is something to cheer about if you plan to sell soon.
If you're a poor working stiff just starting that can't get into the housing market as an owner, it sucks pretty bad on the coast so you're most likely being squeezed into the Valley or the Inland Empire.
But we ain't rich by any stretch. We got in during a slight lull and pulled some clever refinance options right after we bought and dramatically lowered our mortgage. Yes, the 2400 sq ft house cost $475K BUT our mortgage is only $2000 a month, which is cheaper than a LOT of apartments which are a little more than HALF that size.
And the speculation cannot go on forever either. People who bought real estate either in the 80's and 90's or during the recent economic downturn aren't feeling the squeeze.
It's the newcomers who are feeling the pinch.
Well, guess what, we were newcomers once, too. We lived as a new young family in a trailer home in Jonesboro, Arkansas, then we moved to Texas, then we moved here.
The only difference is, both the wife and I used to live here in L.A. before we got together. If I had stayed here and brought her and her kids out instead of moving to Arkansas to be with her, we would probably have paid off our L.A. house by now and we'd be sitting even prettier than we are now, but we're doing just fine anyway.
Oh yeah, we're remodeling the kitchen soon. The contractor handed us papers that deal with ARBITRATION.
In Texas, if a business is asking you to use arbitration, they're not really asking you, they are TELLING you, because it's a take it or leave it proposition down there thanks to Texas consumer law in most counties.
We turned down the arbitration, because in California no one can force you to either take arbitration or walk away.
If liberal policies fail, it's not always because they are in and of themselves liberal, sometimes it's because failed liberals are just as commonplace as failed conservatives.
Bad law can be written by people on both sides, and poor implementation of good law happens on both sides all the time.
Some people are just incompetent, or crooked, that's all.
When common sense conservative policies are properly applied they generally work, and when common sense liberal policies are properly applied, they work, too.
Besides, maybe you're being a little TOO cynical
New Hampshire conservatism is, for the most part, a pretty good form of conservatism. The recent wave of extremism and obstructionist behavior on the right have weathered and rusted it some but at its core, it is still New England style conservatism which is a more grounded way of thinking.
Good liberals are able to find tons of common ground with the hardy conservatives of New Hampshire more often than not and it's not uncommon to see people on opposing sides of the political spectrum enjoying something of an "arm punching" type of friendship with their peers.
I know New Englanders on both sides who are old and crusty codgers who have been enjoying their odd friendships like that for decades.
