California?s politics is fluid, not static.
The hypothetical argument is that "California's population is fluid." By that I mean that of all the states in the union, California Culture promotes transient citizenship. For someone to be a "native born" Californian is unusual. In other states near California, being "from California" is common and a social stigma.
People move to California, get jobs, pay taxes and then leave to go somewhere else. California is no longer a state retirees move to. My Grandfather sold his farm and left North Dakota to move to California so he wouldn't have to face the terribles winters of the Great Plains. I don't see many folks retiring to California that I know. The are going to other places, where the income taxes are much lower and property values are reasonable.
When I got my graduate degree in engineering, I accepted a job with a large engineering firm in San Francisco and moved there with my wife. The project I worked on mostly was one that was being designed for construction in Washington State, where I got my engineering degree. I got my professional training there and then came back. I still remember how high the combined income taxes and sales taxes were then. I remember how expensive home ownership was and I and my peers were making really good money. I also know that there is no way I would ever move their and put up with their taxes, property costs, or anti-gun regulations. When I retire, I might consider setting up a home in some other state to get warmer climate, but it will not be California.
My college-aged son has moved to California and is going to college there. He is hoping to get good contacts that will serve him well in business. He has talked about maybe getting his first professional job in California and then quickly leaving to come back to the real world. He sees the artifical nature of living in southern California. I was talking to another friend of my son's last night. He too is enrolled in college in southern California and home for the summer. He will be graduating next year and told me he wants to get into graduate school in some other state. He wants out.
I don't see lots of business moving to California. I would argue that a lot of business has been driven from California by the nature of the litigation in the state, by the extreme environmental regulations, by the high tax rates, by the extreme salaries they must pay so people can have homes and pay the high state taxes, by the failing schools and reduced trained labor pool, and by shortages of all kinds of things from electricity to water that cause interruptions in production.
California may have had a conservative core, but I feel that core is being driven away from the state. You can't vote for conservative California politicians, if you have left for Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, or Washington. That is the real question, when it comes to California demographic trends.
Yeah, like wearing shorts on New Year's Day because it's 80 degrees outside. Like sking at dawn, visiting a museum by noon, and then surfing the same day by sunset. Choosing between taking in a Lakers game or hiking to a waterfall in Holy Jim Canyon. Picking strawberries or gold mining in the mountains. Firing up the jet ski or exploring old ghost towns in the Mojave desert. A concert under the stars at Irvine Meadows or a rave party on Melrose.
Life really sucks here.
Uh, you can't vote for conservative politicians in Oregon, either; the ones we had are term-limited out! Oregon is heading to be another California, with anti-business mindset, high taxes, and byzantine government regulation. That's why hubby and I are leaving for greener pastures and taking our high incomes with us!
Buh-bye, buh-bye now. Here the sucking sound as thousands of tax dollars leave the state...