File this under “big surprise:” People who advocate for statist policies increasingly flee the places where their preferred statist policies are in place. Excerpt:
According to United Van Lines, the top 10 states people are leaving include the blue states Wisconsin, Ohio, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Only three red states made the list; Kentucky, Utah, and Kansas.
The top 10 states people are moving to include the red states Idaho, South Dakota, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Nevada and Colorado (the last two are purplish states). Only three solidly blue states made the list, Vermont, Oregon and Washington. In 2017, Vermont slipped, with its inbound and outbound moving becoming about equal. Notably, all three of those states used to be much more moderate, only turning blue within the past 25 years or so. Longtime residents in Washington and Oregon regularly rant about Californians taking over their states and turning them blue. People in Vermont complain about Democrats from Massachusetts and New York moving into their state. The bluer those three states become, the fewer people will move there as we’re already seeing with Vermont.
Last week, CBS in San Francisco reported that the number of people leaving the Bay Area reached its highest level in more than a decade. Topping the list of reasons for moving was the high cost of housing. Democrats are more reluctant than Republicans to allow permits for homebuilding, and pile on regulations.
A comment on the linked article expressed the hope that the people leaving those blue states would contemplate why they left and vote accordingly on their arrivals in their new residences. While that may happen in some cases – California has made life pretty unhappy for anyone to the right of Leon Trotsky, and part of that state’s polarization is due to the departure of right-of-center types – the opposite is more often the case.
I can point to my own Colorado as an example. Having lived in Colorado for almost thirty years, I can attest to the transformation of that state from a right-of-center state with some strong libertarian influences to a purple state today. And that purple is increasingly turning blueish; the state went for Her Imperial Majesty Hillary I in 2012, even as many purple states (Michigan and Wisconsin, among others) answered to President Trump’s populist message.
When I first moved to Colorado, I figured I’d probably stay there for the rest of my life. That was before I saw Alaska. Hopefully The Last Frontier will stay clear of such nonsense; urban illiberals that try a move there generally don’t seem to last through their cheechako year. Alaska may remain one of the few good places left.
