Before we start – yesterday was the start of a new fiction series over at Glibertarians. Check it out!
Now then: The mass migration from Blue to Red continues apace. Excerpt:
It is hardly a coincidence that all 15 of the 15 fastest-growing cities and towns between July 2020 and July 2021 are in states that Republicans govern: Arizona, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Idaho. And 14 out of the 15 fastest-declining cities during the same period were in states that Democrats governed at the time.
What towns and cities gaining population generally have in common both before and during COVID-19 is that they live under laws made by Republicans. What towns and cities losing population have in common is that they live under laws made by Democrats.
Not all Democratic states and cities are equally anti-business, but COVID-19 helped bring out the totalitarian side of many state and city governments, driving away and keeping away many former and prospective residents. The Democratic states that were once the biggest draw (Colorado and Washington, a state with no income tax) dropped off the growth lists thanks to COVID-19.
There is a lesson to be taken here. When businesses have a choice of whether to live in a hostile business climate or a friendly one, the choice is a simple one. This has made it easy for states such as Florida and Texas to poach California businesses.
There’s a lesson to be learned here, but the hidebound Left won’t learn it, of course. Even in our current, inflation-raddled economy, Texas and Florida are among the bright spots, business-wise. Turns out low taxes, low regulation, and low real estate prices are a real draw. Who knew? Besides every sane economist since Adam Smith, that is.
A fair number of folks are worried that this exodus will include a lot of folks who will bring their old voting patterns with them and thence screw up their new, adopted homes, and not without reason; that’s precisely what happened to our former home of Colorado. But I think this may be less of a problem than folks think. Why? Because a lot of the current migrants are leaving precisely because they are fed up with the proggie policies of places like New York, Massachusetts and California. They know why those greener pastures in Texas and Florida are greener, and plan to keep it that way.
Nevertheless, I’m still pretty glad that most of the Californians can’t handle our winters here in the Great Land. Just to be on the safe side, you know.
