When Arizona, a state that has historically leaned conservative, was won by Joe Biden and now-senator Mark Kelly this week, very few were taken by surprise. Extensive polling indicated Arizona was ripe for swinging liberal and in this instance, at least, the polling was correct.

The question is why? Why has a state that held two elected Republican senators as recently as 2018 and which held a dependable stable of electoral votes for GOP presidential candidates become a purple state on its way to becoming solidly blue? Have Arizona residents suddenly awaked to the idea that liberal policies and doctrines are more sensible than conservative ones? Hardly.

The answer regarding Arizona’s swing lies in its neighbor to the west, California. Since 2012, California has overwhelmingly sent more transplants to Arizona than any other state. When surveyed, escaping Californians cite high taxes, high crime rates, unaffordable housing, out-of-control homelessness, and high unemployment rates as their top reasons for fleeing.

Who is responsible for creating such an alarming living environment within the state? California liberals. A November, 2020 report produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University stated that California has 395,608 regulatory restrictions. The sheer volume and scope of California regulations creates such a compliance nightmare that they kill entire industries, send housing prices to unattainable heights, and restrict even commonplace liberties for which conservative leaning states are known.

Piled onto California’s endless river of regulations are its nonsensical laws and policies. Twenty major metropolitan cities or counties in California have established laws, ordinances, regulations, or other practices that shield illegal immigrants from prosecution after committing a crime. These counties brazenly safeguard illegal immigrant criminals against deportation either through noncompliance or by refusing to hand them over to federal agencies such as ICE. With over $1.5 trillion in state and local government debt, California effectively has little money to spare for conveniences such as criminal incarceration. What do sanctuary cities and counties see as the alternative to handing illegal immigrant criminals over for deportation? Release them back into the general population, of course.

Consider this: Between 2014 and 2017, the FBI reported that 49 states saw an average increase in crime annually of around 3%. After implementing “humane” alternatives to criminal prosecution, California crime increased more than 12% per year over the same time period. With irrational sanctuary policies that send a clear message of little to no consequence for offenses, is it any wonder California’s crime rate is now spiraling out of control?

Arizona is not the only beneficiary of the California exodus. The Colorado State Demography Office has published an active flow map of people moving into the state from 2010 on. Disturbingly, the state sending the most movers to Colorado since then has consistently been California. As recently as 2004, Colorado had the political trifecta of a Republican governor and a Republican-controlled House and Senate. A short ten years later, all three had turned irrevocably Democrat. The subsequent consequence? A drastic increase in state and local regulations, a dramatic increase in violent crimes, a severe shortage of home inventory and affordable housing, and a staggering increase in homelessness. Do these newfound troubles sound familiar to any other state mentioned here? The only safeguard against out-of-control tax hikes in Colorado is the TABOR Amendment passed by voters 1992, prior to the influx of California residents, that requires taxpayer approval for any new tax. Not surprisingly, emboldened liberals in Colorado are vigorously resolute in repealing this tax hike protection. As of the most recent election they are unsuccessful, yet remain undeterred.

What has coincided with Colorado’s decline? The mass inflow of Californians to the state. Californians have brought with them all the very same liberal doctrines and ideologies that forced their flight from California in the first place. Does this dissuade liberal Californians from shaping Colorado into the very image of California? Not in the least.

If there is any hope for Arizona, it is that they might learn from the resulting ruin of Colorado, however unlikely.

In the 2020 election, Texas was startlingly considered in play for liberals. Since 2015, which state has contributed the most emigrants into Texas? Not surprisingly, the state of California. The hope for liberals is that they can turn Texas into the next purple soon-to-be blue state. The coveted prize is Texas’ electoral votes. Even more insidious, if liberals are able to capture Texas as they have done in Colorado and Arizona, they will force the state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. They will then achieve their ultimate goal of a Democrat president reigning over the United States for endless generations until the point our country experiences the same collapse as other great civilizations throughout world history.

The obvious question is this: How can Texas avoid the same fate as states such as Colorado and Arizona? Simple. By being proactive.

It is much easier for liberals to enact new legislation than to argue for the removal of existing laws. With this in mind, Texas should take advantage of their current Republican-controlled Senate, House, and governor’s office by making haste and passing laws that would limit the future incursion of liberal meddling. Texas can presently enact laws that prohibit sanctuary cities, require voter approval to remove the state’s mandated balanced budget, require that any new regulation must necessitate the removal of an existing one, and compel voter approval of each new local or state tax including non-user fees. While such laws may only serve to stem the liberal takeover of the state, they would be roadblocks making it much more difficult for ideological infiltration in areas that affect inhabitant’s liberties and quality of life.

It would be absurd to suppose Californians have malintent. Rather, they are simply following the course with which they are most familiar while being blissfully ignorant of the negative unintended consequences their political ideology brings. To suggest that any act of suppression, aggression, or intimidation towards Californians moving into red states is acceptable would simply be un-American and subject to the same type of hypocrisy liberals practice. If conservatives stoop to their level, we have lost the battle and, perhaps, the war.

However, by taking aggressive legislative action in states that have not yet succumbed to liberal infiltration, Conservatives will effectively be planting our flag in a defiant refusal to hand over our institutions and our liberty.

Image: kai Stachowiak