Excellent interview in today's WSJ with Joel Kotkin on The Great California Exodus:
Mr. Kotkin also notes that demographic changes are playing a role. As progressive policies drive out moderate and conservative members of the middle class, California's politics become even more left-wing. It's a classic case of natural selection, and increasingly the only ones fit to survive in California are the very rich and those who rely on government spending. In a nutshell, "the state is run for the very rich, the very poor, and the public employees."
And people who don't belong to one of those three groups have been reading the tea leaves and fleeing the Golden State in droves. The question is just how long this tri-class model can last. Americans need not look to Greece for a preview of how the future will look if we continue down our current path. California once again is ahead of the curve and setting a trend that could become commonplace across this land. This time, the rest of us would do well not to emulate the ways of the West Coast.
