This post is for all you out-of-staters that sit in front of the T.V. watching the Rose Bowl Parade once a year, and drool all over your lap wishing you lived in California. Oh, if you could only move to where the palm trees sway, and where the sky is blue, and where you’d be accepted and valued no matter your race or political persuasion. Where you’d have unbridled freedom to do what you want, when you want, and often with the financial blessing of a government so eager to enable your unique lifestyle. Ah, YES, the aptly nicknamed, Golden State… where you can almost imagine the streets littered with shiny doubloons, and the freedom to stuff your pockets with them.
Hey, Pilgrim, WAKE UP ! Slap yourself in the face a dozen times, or jump into a cold lake clothes and all. SNAP OUT OF IT, for goodness sake ! Other than the weather, the whole thing’s an illusion, just like the voluptuous breasts and perfect teeth of many of those beauties atop the floats. If you don’t believe me, consider this.
In their most recent study, the Mercatus Center of George Mason University ranked California FORTY-NINTH out of the fifty states, for personal and economic freedom. And every day it gets even worse, with a host of new “constraints” being instituted by Nannycrat legislators in Sacramento. Yeah, that cool surfer dude you see skimming freely on the crest of a California wave, is really not as free as he looks. Let me quote, verbatim, from the study’s conclusions:
- “Contrary to popular perception, California not only taxes and regulates its economy more than most other states, it also aggressively interferes in the personal lives of its citizens.”
- “California simply needs to cut government spending. The budget categories most out of line with the rest of the country are administration, social services, environment and housing, and “other.”
- “Labor laws are extremely strict… Health insurance coverage mandates add about 49% to the cost of premiums in the state.”
- “Eminent-domain reform has been cosmetic, and the state’s liability system almost reaches the abysmal quality of the Deep South’s.”
- “… It also has the most restrictive gun laws in the country, a highly restrictive policy regime for motorists, and smoking bans.”
- “California simply needs to cut government spending. The budget categories most out of line with the rest of the country are administration, social services, environment and housing, and “other.”
- “Labor laws are extremely strict… Health insurance coverage mandates add about 49% to the cost of premiums in the state.”
- “Eminent-domain reform has been cosmetic, and the state’s liability system almost reaches the abysmal quality of the Deep South’s.”
- “… It also has the most restrictive gun laws in the country, a highly restrictive policy regime for motorists, and smoking bans.”
- “The state’s civil asset-forfeiture regime is arguably the best in the country, apart from North Carolina’s which has only criminal forfeiture.”
Wow, pretty harsh! But just so everyone doesn’t have to unpack their suitcases and cancel the move west, the study was clear that California DID get good grades in at least two specific categories of personal freedom:
- “California does well on same-sex partnerships and marijuana…”
- “California does well on same-sex partnerships and marijuana…”
So there you have it. Besides the weather, what might be considered as positive freedoms are only a reality for a minority of those “categorized” populations living here. Meanwhile, the rest of us shake our heads in dismay, looking ahead with horror to the next Rose Parade and it’s deceptive, one-dimensional portrayal of California life. And while we hope that outsiders recognize it as “smoke and mirrors,” we nonetheless stay indoors through March, seeking to avoid being run over by a stampede of out-of-state hopefuls, who’ve come here looking for the “gold” and personal freedoms they think exist.
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If you want to check out how YOUR state ranks in the categories of personal and economic freedom, you can do so by clicking the "List View" tab at the top-right of this map: www.freedominthe50states.org
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