Californicating Oklahoma
Look out, Oklahomans. Here come the California refugees:
Fleeing the Great Depression and a drought unprecedented in American history, a vast wave of Oklahomans and Texans dubbed “Okies” loaded everything they could onto crowded vehicles during the 1930s and headed west for California. Today, in huge numbers, their grandchildren are moving back…
…From 2004 through 2007, about 275,000 Californians left the Golden State for the old Dust Bowl states of Oklahoma and Texas, twice the number that left those two states for California, recent Internal Revenue Service figures show. In fact, the mid-South gained more residents from California during those four years than either Oregon, Nevada or Arizona. The trend continued into 2008.
As a result, it’s easy to find Californians – even former Sacramentans – living and working in Oklahoma City, a capital of the American heartland.
Unlike the Taxinator, the escapees won’t be back.
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Trackbacks
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Yes. But with the influx of illegal aliens into The Peoples Socialist Quagmire of California, I’ll bet Texas and Oklahoma have to give up representatives to CA come 2010.
This is why illegal immigration is a violation of States rights.
As a native and current Californian (and a conservative at that), let me suggest the following: I’ll stay in California if we can trade our two Senators (Feinstein and Boxer) for Oklahoma’s two Senators (Imhofe and Coburn).
Deal??
I’m just saying that I don’t have trailer trash on my street.
Mind you, I do live in a rural area, so I’m sure there’s some meth cookers around here somewhere.
Will that do?
Gridlock, that’s BS! Those friends just don’t want to share that wonderful state with you.
I DID move there from New Jersey. Don’t live there now and love both NJ and TX but if I ever get a chance to return someday, I’ll pick Texas. There’s a ‘pride’ that comes along with living in Texas. Can’t describe it better than that.
Wherabouts in Iowa? Iowa’s my birthstate, and after 50+ years in CA, I still claim to be a displaced Iowan. I’m partial to Cedar Falls or Mason City for now unless I can be persuaded otherwise.
If California survives, and if we make it to retirment in 6 years (it might be sooner) its Iowa for my wife and me.
Investment tip for the day:
Oklahomans will now be buying a gazillion “Don Rickles” doormats. I’ll see if I can find the manufacturer’s stock ticker symbol — then I’ll report back.
My collie says:
Could we add Pelosi as a bonus, too?
Yead that’s fine. My point was that there isn’t a town in America that doesn’t have it’s share of low life. If there is such a place, congrats to the locals, because they truly have found paradise.
There are some great small towns here in Missouri. Just ask Brad Pitt.
“Bein’ born on it and livin’ on it – and dyin’ on it. THAT’S what makes it our’n. Not some piece o’ paper from the bank!”
– The Grapes of Wrath
Nope, not that I wasn’t that stupid. I just didn’t think of it. Seems like I read an article recently where a teen lost one of his favorite limbs doing that.
Yep, happened about a mile from my house. Couple of kids climbed a eight foot chain link fence, one lost am arm.
Actually, I travel a lot, and driving through heartland America, I see a lot of places where, in spite of all that’s going on in the world, things are still good.
And, just to alleviate everyones fears…
… they are not about to be over-run with Californians.
Does any other state like Texas or Oklahoma really want a bunch of scared wussy liberals invading your state? They’ll just those as well as what they are now running from, their own mess.
I say make all the liberals who now wish to leave California for more conservative pastures stay right where they’re at, and for good, until they themselves are victims of their own idealogy. They deserve everything they get.
The libcancers have completely destroyed that state with their voting habits, and crazy thinking, and now they don’t want to stay and lay in the beds that they themselves made. They’re such hypocrites it’s disgusting.
Hangfire, we have some new transplants here from Kona..
Actually, I very rarely see actual born and bred Okies here anymore. Everyone is a transplant. I’ve seen them from Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Pennsylvania, Oregon, absolutely from every state in the union, except one. Vermont!
meant to say: They’ll just RUIN those as well as what they are now running from, their own mess.
Grand Lake of the Cherokees is one of the prettiest places on earth, as is Lake of the Ozarks. My husband was all set to move to either one when it dawned on him they are smack dab in the middle of tornado country too. Lots of retirement areas too. There is a perfect one somewhere for each and every one of you. Just ditch your liberal politics at the state line.
Transplanted Californians are the main reason that formally Red State Nevada is now Blue.
There goes the neighborhood?
In my home state (Mo) we used to talk about the guy who moved from Missouri to Kansas and simultaneously raised the average IQ of both states. And so it is with California and Oklahoma.
Also, notice the reasons for leaving California include housing prices. That means that all those new Okies are being replaced in Sacramento by higher earners who can afford the higher prices.
Ok. I promise not to move to Oklahoma or Texas. Just as long as Texans, Oklahomans, Nevadans and Arizonians promise not to move to Colorado, New Mexico, Montana or Wyoming. We don’t need no cowboy wannabe McRanches up there.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
I’ve rode those oil pumpers a few times. Had to climb the fence. Wasn’t 8 foot tall then. Progress, I guess. But in the middle of the night, with the farmers dogs barking, you are crossing the field, the stars are out, the moon is shining, the night is still except for that pumper engine.
The darn thing is just a big steel I-beam on a swivel pivet. Where the two pieces meet is where they move. Don’t want to mess with that. They won’t stop for anything. Its the timing of the climbing on. Once your own, just scoot up. It’s like a slow bucking bronco. It goes up and then down. Some Colorado koolaid gave us the courage (or the stupidity).
The most dangerous part for us was when the lights in the farmhouse came on and the shotgun came out. Sometimes with rock salt, other times with real buckshot. That was the 70’s. Ah, olden times.
Kansans-bah. Jayhawkin’ redlegs.
Give me a good ol’bushwackin’ Missourah boy anyday.
There is a huge contingent from CA coming to Texas, too, but there is a certain “attitude” (except in Austin), in Texas that does not lend well to Californication. You learn to adapt to Texas-style (a la Houston’s protest Michelle showed earlier today) that newcomers learn very soon. I know, I’m one. Had a bumper sticker that said, “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could.”
Texas sucks so don’t come here! Go to Michigan or New York.
He’s from Missouri, where they’re all known to be killers of innocent men, women and children.
Simple: Californicators
RTater–you quotin’ Josey Wales?
I can’t go noodlin’ for catfish here in Hawai’i.
I was born in Enid, raised in Oklahoma City and Crescent (yes, the Crescent where Karen Silkwood worked). Liked it well enough growing up, but my husband’s 22 years in the Army showed me there are better places to live. The weather in Oklahoma sucks! Now I live in Cochise County, Arizona watching the illegals tramping through on their way to Phoenix. But right now, it’s about 88 degrees with 10% humidity, nice breeze at about 15 mph, brilliant blue skies here at 4800′ elevation and over 325 days of sunshine per year. Heaven, pure heaven.
( . . . oh, and did I mention no tornadoes or mosquitoes?!)
Spacey – You know it ! She had another good on-topic line; something like “Ain’t nothin’ good ever come out-a Missoura. Anything from Missoura has a taint about it.”
The question in my mind is: “Are the emigrant Californians going to ruin Texas like they ruined California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Nevada?” I hope they leave their nanny statism and progressive ways behind when they cross the border.
Wow. Some folks on here really don’t understand the problem. CA is only the first step. Orange County is about as red as you can get but we still get crap policies from Sacremento. You can all run and hide in your states that you think are so safe but this is a nation wide problem. First they came for CA and I did nothing. Then NV and I did nothing………..get it.
Johnny Dilznik, yep, got it. There is a revolution brewing. The question is whether the fermentation process will complete.
That’s funny, LGM, You mean to tell me the poor and minorities who get the benefits of taxation are going to pay for it??
If that were the case, California should not be facing bankruptcy, now should it?
What you suggest, LGM, is that an even poorer person is going to pay the same bill that the so-caled richer person couldn’t afford to pay, but decided to move while they still had the wealth to do so.
This is patently illogical.
Wow, lgm, you sure are a people person. You have such a knack for making people feel better about themselves. I’m sure that your statement will really go over well with your students from Oklahoma and Kansas. Now I can tell the story about the math perfesser who moved from MO to NY, raising MO’s average IQ but lowering NY’s.
Do you want to think about your question again, chilloutyo? The simple answer is NO. It’s NOT the liberals who are leaving. If it were, then the rest of us would just have to wait it out, close the state borders, and fix what’s broken.
California politicians have run out of petroleum jelly, friction is building, and the public is finally feeling the pain. Running away only stops the pain temporarily. Removing the foreign object with radical surgery is the only answer for long term relief.
Yes, lgm has a point because any time someone sells a house and moves out the house must be purchased immediately by someone with a higher income.
lgm must be on the board of directors at Freddie or Fannie. No wonder they are shining examples of socialist economic success…
RIGHT ON….right on. I am hoping we can be ground zero for the revolution.
DON’T TREAD ON ME!
WE82 – I couldn’t see the logic in lgm’s post either…oh well…
right_on, a lot of people with money are emigrating from CA and a lot of people without money are immigrating. Unfortunately, the emmigrants run the political spectrum. As a former resident, it is sad to see the state, with so much natural beauty, being ruined by progressives who care a lot about political power and not much else. The CA Democrats have welcomed the immigrant poor in order to expand their political power base.
Are you surprised? At least he/she is consistent in that regard…
Ronald Reagan was never a liberal. He was a Democrat. He said he never left the Democrat party, the Democrat party left him…he was always a conservative, as my Democrat parents were conservatives.
Hmm.. Home prices are dropping like a rock here in California. Just like all of LGMs posts he pulls it out of his behind to meet his internal narrative.
Higher prices? There is nothing remotely true in that statement but he and his ilk must resort to making stuff up and then …presto.. it becomes truth to them. This is how they communicate to each other. Its also an example of why they are so deluded. They actually believe it even though they know they just now made it up.
Ruh roh, this is not good.
I live in WA and the Californians have brought their politics up here. They want “no shooting” zones (anti 2nd Amendment), government control over private property to “protect” the environment, banning plastic bags, any dishwasher detergent that’s not enviro-friendly and other nanny state idiocy.
Beware, OK, TX, and other sensible states!
The people I have met from CA that moved to WA & Oregon have usually been people who are escaping the crime and pollution of CA for the nice Pacific Northwest air. They usually have visited there during vacations and wanted to retire there when they got older. They are probably not bikini people. Aren’t those blue states already?
What I have found here in Texas is that the people that come here from California come to Texas because they like our laws, our lack of a state income tax (personal and corporate), the freedom, and the fact that they can buy a nice home at a decent price. They may not earn as much in as in California, but the cost of living is much cheaper.
I moved here (countryside outside of Austin) from CA because I wasn’t liberal enough for the Bay Area. Come to find out I wasn’t even as liberal as I thought I was. For a while I pretended for the sake of my family back in CA but I’ve even dropped that pretense. So there is hope for the Californians moving out of California. When they see that other places are nice too, and even nicer in a lot of ways, they are forced to reflect on that. Otherwise, they believe what they were told growing up there- that CA is the best place on Earth.
The problem is, like any other immigrant population, when the numbers of them are dense enough that they feel no need to assimilate.
Jet Jaguar said (#131):
Folks here can be pretty slow, but they do know then they’ve been insulted. I’m really tired of the “stupid liberal, stupid Californian, stupid elite” crap that gets poured over this blog. I just took the opportunity for payback. If you stop the insults, I promise to stop too.
And after they ruin my beloved home state their children and/or grandchildren will move to another RED state and ruin it.
Then, by all means, leave and DLTDHYITAOTWO. Stick with Daily Kos. The IQ on this blog will be raised. DK … not so much.
We’re really tired of stupid liberals and stupid elites, too, and you’re right about one thing, they are crap.
lgm:
A regular Dale Carnegie, you are.
Kabuki theater, how multi-culti of you. I don’t anyone here believes your posturing. We aren’t likely to change our views; even an optimist like you can understand that.
You do that pretty often.
I have the nagging suspicion you will continue to feel insulted.
So, the only people fleeing California are liberals?
Could it be that some folks from the right are just sick and tired of the economic mess and are just leaving it behind?
And, if the folks that are returning are truly the descendents of emigrating Texans and Okies from the Dust Bowl days, are we saying that they became liberals while in California?
This post was about emigration caused by a terrible economic environment. The irony is evident. And, they won’t return, as Michelle said, unless and until a miracle occurs in California.
These potshots at people trying to find better lives are missing the point. If they’re fleeing the idiocy, and they came from middle America stock, and they are returning to their roots, why on earth would we think they would bring the failed politics that they are fleeing?
(And, atheling, I lived in Washington for many years. The Everett to Olympia corridor didn’t need an influx of Californians to be politically stupid. Washingtonians handled that just fine on their own. See eight years of Gregoire as simple proof. It’s unfortunate that that part of the state can drag everyone along with it. I think the southern and eastern counties should secede.)
nope sorry…we ain’t trading our two for your two…for the most part Inhofe and Coburn are exactly what we want in OK…
oh and by the way you can have all the illegals that still managed to survive by working for cash or are brought in from Texas to do construction work and ??
I hate California.
Please, PLEASE, stop insulting us. It hurts so much because all we want is your approval!
Idiot.
Ok, lgm, I’ll try to be more civil to you, but you do know why people insult you, right? It’s not just me who does it, but several regular posters who take shots at you. Just in case you aren’t aware, there are two major components to your posts that give rise to people’s frustration:
-Most of your posts sound as though they are rote lib/Kos talking points. This is an immediate turnoff to people. This type of post travels the same synapse-ual path, I suspect, that we use to process telemarketers’ calls at dinner time. Nothing wrong with using talking points as a basis for a post, but you’ve got to make it sound like it is from you …like you really believe it.
-You usually “hit and run”. Most of your posts are just tossed into the mix and left there to die. You don’t respond to honest thoughtful questions about your statements. This is VERY frustrating to people. IMHO no one should ever post without being willing to defend it. …and it’s ok to say “I don’t know”, “let me get back to you”, “I’ll have to consider that”, etc… We can respect that, but you (again IMHO) have actually conditioned people to stomp on you as soon as we see you. We humans teach others how to treat us. I have this tendency, but as I hope you’ve noticed, I try to respond favorably to you when I think you’ve made a good post.
I’ll try to modify my behavior based on your request. I hope that you’ll reciprocate.
On June 15th, 2009 at 10:34 pm, lgm said:
I’m sorry, but it’s hard to feel insulted by you because-
a.) You’re more than likely a GOP plant: your frequent posting of the same, unoriginal Democrat talking points found on many liberal sites, suggests you do so with the specific intent of affording commenters here the opportunity to develop their arguments against a Leftist issue and nothing more.
b.) You often appear to enlist your students to post for you, as evidenced by the sometimes abrupt changes and inconsistencies in your writing styles and argumentation. Writing styles are as unique and individualistic as fingerprints, yet there are times when yours vacillates from terse equivocations to semi-rage filled sarcasms, intimating they are not written by the same person.
c.) The exact same criticisms and faults you seem to find so offensive in the many conservative commenters on this conservative site, are often exhibited by you.
We would have left California two years ago but we could not sell our house.We were just about 6 months too late to get our home sold. There are 6 houses on our street that have been on the market for over 12 months.Most have reduce the sales price by over 60% and still cannot sell them.
If and when the real estate market comes back we are out of here.
I used to think we could fix what is wrong here but since the turncoat Arnold got elected, I believe it is too late short of a state bankruptcy or another prop 13.
This state is owned by the Liberals and most importantly the public employees unions.They have gerrymandered the voting districts and you cannot vote them out of office.
Born and raised in Oklahoma and now living in the northern part of Louisiana, I’m not sure why anyone would live anywhere else but the south. Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana seem buffered from the economic issues the rest of the country face. Its because our governors know what fiscal responsibility is! As a teacher paid by the state we are facing cuts, but they have to happen, and I am willing to do my part. We don’t have teacher unions here to screw things up. Again, why live anywhere else?