[jwh_Denver]

You know what? I'm not going to disagree with a thing you said.

In the early 80's Colorado was considered a conservative state but that started to change sometime in the late 80's with the influx of out of staters with most of them being Californians. Yes there were Texans in with that crowd and for some unknown reason to me Texas is really disliked here. But I've lived in a number of states where a next door neighbor state was hated. E.g. Ilinois hates the Hoosiers.

The Wild West pioneering attitude is long gone except maybe in some of the eastern plain cities. Sure is dead in Denver. But then again we don't have many politicians who speak about gun control.

[pbmaltzman]

In the early 80's Colorado was considered a conservative state but that started to change sometime in the late 80's with the influx of out of staters with most of them being Californians.

A lot of Coloradoans came to California to find jobs around that time. I'm pretty sure that most of them didn't face anywhere near the hostility I later faced occasionally in Fort Collins, at a time when many Californians were in reverse migration mode (when Colorado finally had more jobs).

Some of the hostile Coloradoans had themselves been immigrants in the not-too-distant past, including from California.

I also remember jokes about Oklahoma being the only trailer park that became a state.

And of course, Wyoming folks referred to Coloradoans as "greenies" due to the license plates.

[CORedneck]

That's the truth. Along with it, the right to be left alone when not bothering anyone else. My former boss from my old job was prime example. I got in trouble with him one time for going to a different floor to use the bathroom and one of his "pets" reported me. Another time, I was told to park my pickup truck away from the building since it was considered an eyesore. One of the execs complained to him about the truck.

I lived here in Colorado for almost 12 years but I am thinking it might be time to move on. As I mentioned before, New Zealand is a thought. If I was single and not tied down, I would be getting to NZ as quick as possible !

The Wild West pioneering attitude is long gone except maybe in some of the eastern plain cities.