Q: SHOULD I MOVE TO A BLUE STATE OR RED. A: YES

 

It depends on you and what you are seeking. The fifty states offer fifty different options for citizens to choose the type of climate, entertainment, job opportunity, political bias, taxation and crime rate they desire. The original 13 states were very different and the founding fathers correctly, in my opinion, decided to let state governments retain control of all aspects of government except those few things essential to the National Interest. These they laid down in the Constitution and reserved to the Federal Government. The wisdom of their actions can be seen every day in the intra-continental mass migration taking place. People are moving in large numbers from blue states to red ones. The shift has been so dramatic that the last census required 12 Congressional seats to change states. Five traditionally blue states lost seats while only Washington State gained one. Red states gained many of the seats that shifted with Texas receiving the most new seats numbered at four. Between 2009 and 2010 for example, 880,000 people left Illinois while during the same time period Texas gained 782,000. People move for a whole host of reasons to be sure and even though the net migration patterns indicate more people are moving from blue to red states it is true that many people also move counter to this trend. So like I said in the title of this post, the correct direction to move in is the one that best suits you. I know that this conclusion may seem trivial but I think that it is far more important than it appears at first. We as a nation enjoy a diversity of landscapes and politics and the ability to move at will between them.

Every time the Federal Government takes unto itself one of the authorities reserved to the individual states it substitutes instead a one size fits all law. It doing so it tramples on freedoms cherished by roughly half of the population. Our freedom to move around and find the best state for ourselves is diminished every time the Federal Government makes a law that applies in all States. A few years ago we migrated from one blue state to another. We moved to the State of Washington because it has no income tax, it’s beautiful and I love the sailing. I am a conservative so I when I see that red states averaging 1.8% less unemployment and are experiencing about five times the income growth rate of the blue states I believe that it shows red states are better. My liberal friends are quick to point out that the highest average incomes are in the blue states and that the migration of high income earners toward red states slants the income growth rate figures unfairly. People are voting in this pole with their feet and the results favor business friendly, low tax areas and less intrusive government.

I remember Germany before the wall came down, the wall that was erected for the sole purpose of preventing the German people from doing the very thing we take for granted. They wanted to move toward freedom and away from socialism. Instead of enticing their population to stay in East Germany the Soviet controlled government used the military and wall to force them to stay. I worked in communist China before their citizens had any right to even change jobs, much less move for political reasons. When I would return home from business trips over-seas it never failed to make an impression on me with regard to how much freedom we have.

I don’t think it is as important whether you are liberal or conservative as it is that we have a choice. If you want to live where the Mayor unilaterally decides how big a soft drink you can buy, move to New York. If you want to carry a concealed weapon or smoke pot Colorado may be for you. I submit that the worst thing that we as a nation can do is lose that freedom to choose. We need to respect the values of our fellow citizens and not surrender to the temptation of trying to force everyone to live as we ourselves see fit.

The latest over reach, if we don’t count the NSA spying on us, is the Federal government’s takeover of  healthcare. This program was opposed by the majority of Americans when it was passed and has since managed to become even more unpopular. One size fits all government seldom does. The 2014 midterm elections should, in my view, be a referendum on States rights more than anything else.