I doubt it can be stopped. The people are more interested in what they can be given or what they can take. The politicians, hungry for power and wealth, know this, feed the moochers and are rewards with a loyal voting base.

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money,
that will herald the end of the republic.”
- Benjamin Franklin

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But,
under the name of 'liberalism,' they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program,
until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."
- Norman Thomas (US Socialist Presidential Candidate)

You can leave The People's Republic of California.

Check your Premise. As an Objectivist do you have any right to cause others to change (other than through education)?

I do sympathize with you, but my feeling is you are caught up in a rush of Lemmings on their way toward "history in the making". They will stop running when everything crashes.

California is swirling out of control. The state is steadfastly liberal and is just beginning to reap what they have sowed. I loved San Diego, but I'm glad I moved out of there 20 years ago. The most beautiful and arguably the place with the greatest potential to be the most productive in the country is turning into the east side of Detroit. The only thing you can do is either get out of watch it crumble around your ears.

Why not vote with your feet and leave?

We left California and took our money, children and grandchildren with us. Both my wife and I are well educated with advanced degrees. My children either have degrees, or are working on them. The majority of my kids wll have advanced degrees. So we have taken millions of dollars of earning potential and a lot of intelectual capitol out of the state. Now, just my family will not make a huge difference, but if all like minded families did the same the motor would stop.

There is a high threshold cost to moving out of California for me - both personal and professional. In addition to the personal consequences, moving means selling the office and moving at least some of the people in the company to another state. (There are several, including some key people, who are willing to move...but not all of them, and not all of the key people.)

What do I get out of this? Is there a state that is That Much Better than California that it is worth my while to move? Is there any state that can protect me and my employees from the ACA? Is there any state that can keep CPS from grabbing the children of my employees?

I keep looking at Texas, which is large, has a lot of physical resources, is not cold, and has a seacoast (all required criteria to me). West Texas (just W of Austin) is the best place I have found so far...but there are still not Enough advantages for me to go over the threshold and actually move.

Instead, what I am seeing is the "Californiazation" of the rest of the US. Increasingly, the other states are following the path that California has taken. So why move?

Jan

Here are my thoughts on California.

IS ATLAS SHRUGGING IN CALIFORNIA?

In Ayn Rand’s allegorical novel “Atlas Shrugged” the most productive members of society are vanishing. Their disappearance leaves a vacuum that is rapidly filled by people that have never operated a successful business, met a payroll, or even had a genuinely original idea. The result is the collapse of the economy and the beginnings of a depression that makes the 1930’s look like a tea party.

And now fiction is becoming reality. While there is no clearly identifiable “John Galt” and many of the people that are leaving the state are simply moving to more business friendly locations the impact on California is much the same as that described in Rand’s novel. Businesses are failing at an alarming rate, tax revenues are plummeting, and the burden placed on the state coffers by exploding welfare rolls is crippling. And California is not alone; this same scenario is being repeated all over the country.

In Atlas Shrugged, John Galt said he would “Stop the motor of the world.” Well, in the real world everywhere you look the motor is stopping.
California once led the nation in population growth at one point going over 6 percent per year. Now it has dropped to slightly over one percent. And what is worse is the drop in per capita income. Once a leader in the nation now the state is in the second to the lowest quintile in terms of income growth. This means that most of the growth is in lower income groups which mean little or no new business. This pattern is being repeated up and down the east coast. Not surprisingly the most rapid growth is in states with low or nonexistent tax structures, with Nevada being a prominent example.

For the most part the country is self destructing because of an orgy of self indulgence brought about by colossally incompetent social policies. The current administration is a classic example of machine politics Chicago style. The recent attempt at extortion or blackmail of Senator Kyle from Nevada is a classic example of this practice. Administration officials including four cabinet officers, almost certainly with the knowledge of President Obama, threatened the governor of Arizona with a cut off of stimulus funds if Kyle didn’t stop his criticism of the stimulus process.

The United States in now a debtor nation and is at the financial mercy of countries like China and other Asian nations as well as some very unfriendly folks in the Middle East. And now, even Communist China is viewing the leftward lunge of the United States with considerable alarm. They have a very large investment in American companies and American dollars and they are worried that this investment is in jeopardy. Considering the profligacy of the current and previous administrations this concern is clearly justified.



So, was Ayn Rand a prophet or just an annoying radical right wing kook. Watch the news or read it in those few papers that still exist and decide for your self.

We currently live in California --- We are moving as the state is completely out of control. What people can and will do is vote with their feet.

California's motor is already spiraling out of control. Like any engine that is imbalanced.

California started passing laws to have government-applied medical treatment to children a couple years ago. Only the latest one had some opposition, and will probably go to referendum. Of course, I expect the voters to approve it. My point, though, is that California isn't that unique. The $15 wage took in Seattle . Maine courts just ruled that a child can be removed from parents for forced medical treatment.

I'm surprised how the media ignores this stuff.

California will stop it's own motor. The flood of illegals and wasteful spending will sink the State eventually. I just hope their is no Federal bailout. Activating the San Andreas fault may work also.

It looks like you won't have to; that they'll stop
it themselves.--And then it'll be their own fault.--
But maybe then they'll realize the error of their
ways. Unless they try to blame the people in other
states and try to sponge off the rest of us.

I'm convinced the lefties are doing it to themselves. Between the higher minimum wage (both statewide and higher yet in some cities) causing a lot of small businesses to close, and overregulation of other kinds, jobs here are in decline, and it's still getting worse because the state won't stop spending. Some of us can work around it by becoming independent contractors, but I'm sure looking for the job that will move me to a better state.

Since politics goes to those who show up, getting involved (showing up) is all you can do.
Otherwise, you can only tend your own garden.

Another problem is the bought-and-paid for politicians know that people will "vote" with their feet by moving to other states. Thus, the reason for turning other supposedly "red" states into socialist states is so that no matter where one wants to escape to, it's a socialist hellhole no matter what state you choose.

There have been numerous posts in the past with discussions on where else to move ~ the Globalists have also planned on this too: socialist hellholes no matter what country you move too. It is very depressing. Sorry to hear about your situation in Kali.

Let's see. Most refining networks are levied or regulated out of commission though plentiful oil and gas is available offshore, the water is being rationed while an ocean of potential desalinated water remains untapped, electrical shortages are reassigned with rude telemarketers selling high priced solar cells, and racial movements are as consistent as they ever were. The motor has stopped in California. The two miniature republics within it called Silicon Valley and Orange County survive on folksy wisdom and the Attila businessman ethic. So what I mean to say is, come to California if you want to party like its 1984.

I would have to say the only recourse is to Move Out. John Galt did and he survived just fine. Yes, it is a fiction, but the idea is there and many have survived such moves before.

I'd like to say...then move, stop doing business with california...BUT...I know how difficult that is, especially if your invested; ex have a home, have a mortgage and your house is worth less than you owe or at best, you'd have nothing to show for it after selling...I feel your pain cause I am in the same boat here in Connecticut.

by leaving, you shrug. . any producer who leaves is
shrugging-off CA. -- j
.

Time to leave the Socialist State of California. I am.

Take your economy off the grid... see the Internet.

CALIFORNIA IS DONE FOR. I still hve some real estate there, but I am going to get rid of it and be done with california forever.

jbrenner has given you the best advise. do not think about it any longer just do it.