California dreamin’ to California leavin’

By Solomon Green, Op-ed Contributor Sunday, February 13, 2022

In 2010, as a 5th grader at Sellers Elementary in Glendora, California, part of the curriculum was learning the 50 states and their capitals. As we learned them, I felt that I could remember better if I learned information about each state. I had no clue what I was in for.

During my research, my eyes were opened to how different life, politics, economics, and culture were in various states. As I dug more, my desire to leave the Golden State was planted and began to grow. Now 12 years later, due to a better financial situation, I am finally leaving.

To be fair, California will always have a special place in my heart. I grew up here, my immediate family is here, most of my network is here, and there are countless memories I have experienced here. I can say the climate and weather in California are second to none. The natural beauty of our national parks is truly something to behold.

However, as a Christian who hates abortion with a fiery passion, I cannot bear living in a state where the governor wants to make California an “abortion sanctuary.” The Bible and even other religious texts explain that a sanctuary is a place of holiness. So Gavin Newsom wants to create a “holy place” for incredibly unholy acts to take place. When I saw the news in December, it was the cherry on top for me.

I am not alone. Even for non-Christians, the Golden State has become so horrific that U-Haul literally ran out of trucks for people trying to leave. Even Snopes had to say the claim was true. Tesla, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, and others are leaving or have already left.

This once flourishing, desirable, incredible destination is now a decaying, repulsive, and horrible place. Why? Abortion policies notwithstanding, here are three reasons why people and companies have gone from California dreamin’ to California leavin.’

1. Taxes

California currently has a 13.3 percent income tax, which leads the nation. Last year, California had the highest state sales tax rate. State legislators proposed a wealth tax and raising the income tax to 16.8% in 2020.

For some inexplicable reason, California’s Democrat politicians believe that when items like cigarettes and flavored nicotine products are highly taxed, people are deterred from buying them. Yet they simultaneously believe that when high taxes are applied on income and businesses, individuals and corporations will be excited, not deterred, to live and do business in California.

While Californians pay an insane amount of taxes, streets are littered with obscene amounts of garbage, open needles, potholes, and other things. Sidewalks and walkways are broken and some are totally unusable. Law-abiding citizens feel unsafe just going about their day.

As political firebrand Ben Shapiro shared, “It’s one thing to pay exorbitant taxes. It’s another thing to pay exorbitant taxes and watch your city degrade into a hell hole.”

2. Homelessness

In 2019, near the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a homeless man went up to a random woman and poured a bucket of “hot diarrhea” on her. Recently, 24-year-old UCLA student Brianna Kupfer was killed during a random attack at her job by a homeless man and career criminal, Shawn Laval Smith. Around the same time, homeless man Kerry Bells randomly attacked nurse Sandra Shells as she was waiting for the bus and she later died from her injuries. These stories are a nutshell of the homelessness issue in California.

Growing up, I remember seeing homeless individuals, but it used to just be relegated to places like Skid Row in Los Angeles. This is no longer the case. Even “nice areas” like the Hollywood Walk of Fame have homeless people sleeping and living on the sidewalks. Underpasses, street corners, in front of people’s residences — the homelessness issue can be found all over California.

One day, I was on a date and we had spent an incredible day together and we started to walk home. We came across a transient about half a mile from our dorms. He was screaming and completely out of his mind. But if we crossed the street, we would have to literally step over multiple homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk. I told her to hold my arm as we passed him. He simply stared at us as we passed and we had no further issues.

Another time, I was working at a grocery store when a family came in and told me that there was a fully naked woman sitting outside the store. We called the police who took 30 minutes to arrive and only talked to her.

In 2011, the homeless population of Los Angeles was estimated to be between 40,000 and 50,000. In less than a decade, the homeless population in Los Angeles County grew to about 70,000. The homeless situation has been absolutely out of control and will only worsen.

3. Quality of life/poor policy-making

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk did an interview with The Babylon Bee. Early on, he talked about how California used to be a “land of opportunity” and now it is a place of “overregulation, overlitigation, and overtaxation.” This is very true.

California’s unscientific COVID policies caused places like restaurants, barbershops, and hair salons to be shut down. Children are made to wear masks, coerced to take the COVID-19 shots, and use unnecessary hybrid learning models when the insurmountable data shows individuals ages 0-17 are incredibly safe from COVID.

In education, while this issue starts in the home, 75 percent of black boys in California are illiterate. Entire grading systems and policies have been changed in the name of equity and racial disparity.

In health, it is legal to be HIV-positive, have unprotected sex, and not disclose it with a sexual partner. However, if you would like to go work out at your favorite gym in Los Angeles, you must show proof of full vaccination.

In conclusion, if you are thinking about moving to California, do not do it. If you are in California and think this state can be saved, you are wrong and you should immediately get out if you can.

I tell my podcast audience all the time: The places people go to are desirable. The places people leave are undesirable. Why would people and businesses be leaving an “awesome” place by the thousands? Why are there more people leaving than people entering? Why do you think people are California Leavin’ instead of California Dreamin’?

Solomon Green is a writer and podcaster. His writings can be found on Thinkspot, Merion West, the Christian Post, and Medium. He hosts the podcast "One More Thing With Solo Green", which can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other sites where podcasts are available. His work mostly focuses on Culture and Politics. To send in your questions, comments, podcast topic suggestions, or business inquiries, you can best reach him at: [email protected].