"Mobility is perhaps the most important aspect of federalism. If the individual concludes he is hopelessly bound by what he considers to be a harmful decision by state or local authorities, he may, in the end, choose to live elsewhere--where the economic, cultural, or social conditions are more to his liking. Indeed, throughout American history, individuals of all races, ages, and income levels have moved from one state to another, either because they are escaping adverse conditions, or simply because they are seeking greener pastures."
Mark R. Levin - Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, pg. 52
Sept. 17, 2012, Santa Ana, California:
In the late 1940’s my teenage mother-to-be, her half-sister and brother-in-law, and in coming years, her younger brothers, and mother, all left Owensboro, Kentucky for the greener pastures of California, where they worked as migrant workers, in California, Oregon, and Washington, before eventually settling down in the Inland empire of Southern California.
All they had for the journey were a car, clothes and a small amount of money
The brothers entered the military, mom became a waitress, and later, a Den Mother at Pitzer College, and the brother-in-law got a job as a grounds man at Claremont-Mudd College, both in Claremont, Ca...
My father-to-be fled the communism of Yugoslavia for the freedom of America, with little beyond the clothes on his back, and a few cherished photos, sponsored to go from an Italian refugee camp in Italy to a farm in New York, in 1951, ending up at a Mexican Migrant camp, in the Inland empire, from which he went on to wash dishes in a local hotel, before landing a job as a grounds man at Pomona College, in Claremont, Ca., in 1953.
California was good to them all, in different ways, trough good times and bad.
The brothers went on to productive lives in CA, and other states.
Now, it’s my turn to leave a state that no longer offers anything to me, and head to what I believe to be the greener, though warmer, even on occasion wetter, pastures, of Houston, Texas, with my book collection, clothes, a computer, a bicycle, 2 cats and a small amount of other items, as well as a limited amount of funds, unemployment through December and a decent IRA that I don’t plan on touching.
As I sit here in a nearly empty apartment, 2 days from departure, I have faith that this is the right move for me at this time in my life, and trust in God to show me the way to a bright, productive future.
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