Several weeks ago, I flew to Texas to visit my friend Mollie, who had left California in 2022. Whenever I told someone I was going to Texas, their first question was, “Are you moving out of California?”

How different from when I moved to California in 1977…

“I’m so jealous!” That was the reaction of family and friends when my husband and I announced that, after one year of marriage, we were leaving New York. It was a difficult decision because I was close to my parents, particularly my mother. For us, the primary reason was the weather. We did not enjoy humid summers or frozen winters and wanted to move before devoting years to our careers.

In our early 20s, relocating across the country felt like an exciting adventure, especially since California was still paradise with its snow-capped mountains and glistening beaches. From the streets of San Francisco to the glitter of Hollywood and from magical Disneyland to Old Town San Diego, almost everyone wanted to live or vacation in California.

Today, leaving California is part of the conversation. Almost every Californian knows someone who has left the state and others (including themselves) who are thinking about relocating. How fast can you say Texas, Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, South Carolina … It’s ABC as people want to live Anywhere But California due to lurid high taxes, escalating crime, the nation’s highest poverty rate, the influx of illegal migrants who are given freebies, plus an exploding homeless population, to name a few reasons to leave.

Gavin Newsom is U-Haul’s salesman of the year—every year!

So, y’all I spent four wonderful days in beautiful Georgetown, still a conservative stronghold outside of Austin. But Austin’s liberal population is growing.

In “This Is a Really Big Deal: How College Towns are Decimating the GOP,” Charlie Mahtesian and Madi Alexander detail Democrat growing successes throughout the United States by focusing on college towns.

Name the flagship university — Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, among others — and the story tends to be the same. If the surrounding county was a reliable source of Democratic votes in the past, it’s a landslide county now. There are exceptions to the rule, particularly in the states with the most conservative voting habits. But even in reliably red places like South Carolina, Montana, and Texas, you’ll find at least one college-oriented county producing ever larger Democratic margins.

Consider that much of the Texas population increase is occurring in its liberal cities, which include:

- Houston

- El Paso

- Dallas

- Eagle Pass

- San Antonio

- Austin

- Laredo

Still, without debate, Texas is nirvana compared to California and other blue states, which is why so many conservatives move there.

It was 90+ degrees during my visit. According to the Austin American-Statesman in 2023:

…there were 138 days over the year that rose to over 90 degrees, with nearly 60% of those peaking over 100 degrees, meaning approximately 40% of the year experienced sweltering temperatures.

Humid Texas weather is tolerable for California and other blue state transplants when you have so many positives, starting with no state income tax.

On my last evening, I attended the Sun City Republican Club monthly meeting wearing a “California Republican” T-shirt. Walking around the “yuge” ballroom with nearly 500 enthusiastic members, including former Californians, I reminded them that they should never assume that because Texas is red today, it will be red tomorrow. After all, California was also once deep red.

Interestingly, Texas is facing some issues similar to those in California. At the Republican meeting, Georgetown Mayor Josh Schroeder discussed the steps being taken to guarantee there’ll be enough water for current and future residents. He reminded attendees to follow rationing policies by watering their lawns on specific dates based on their address. Gee, that sounds like California!

Moreover, to alleviate the housing affordability crisis, the Austin city council just voted to allow the construction of more homes on single-family lots. The change will allow homebuilders to put up to three housing units (duplex or triplex) on almost any lot in the city where a single-family home now sits. Gee, that sounds like California!

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence RateWatch, in 2023, nationwide owner-occupied homeowners’ insurance increased 11.3 percent across the United States. However, Texas was the #1 state with the highest effective rate change, with a whopping 23.3 percent. Gee, that sounds like California!

Still, politics are saner and safer in the Lone Star state. One possible reason is that, since 1846, Texas has had a part-time legislature. They only meet 140 days a year in odd-numbered years. That means most Texas state elected representatives usually work outside of government. They have an intimate understanding of how the legislation they pass affects the citizenry. That’s the opposite of California’s full-time legislature that spends its days proposing and passing ridiculous Marxist-like bills.

Y’all, I still believe that, with the right leadership, California can have a renaissance and return to its glory days. While waiting at the airport to fly home, I posted on social media:

ON MY WAY HOME…

At Austin Airport to fly home. From my short visit Texas is nice. But CALIFORNIA is my home. I want to fight to save CALIFORNIA from disastrous Democrat policies. Imagine if all the Patriots in 1776 threw up their hands in defeat and moved to Great Britain rather than stay and fight to create a United States of America. I will do what I can to Make California Gold Again and to Make America Great Again.

Robin M. Itzler is a regular contributor to American Thinker. She can be reached at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com.

Image by Robin M. Itzler.