Cultures have character—things that define them, differentiate them from others, and create the kind of mutual identity on which countries and civilizations are built.
One that is almost unique to America is a kind of "wanderlust" that not only involves the desire to travel but the feeling that better opportunities are waiting for each of us somewhere other than where we currently are.
It's an impulse that's caused America to grow. Whether it was the search for trails westward from the original 13 colonies, or the Great Migration when southern rural blacks moved to the rapidly industrializing north, or the gold rush that sent thousands of "forty-niner miners" to California in search of great wealth, the possibility that economic security could be found just by looking for it has caused populations to shift and communities to grow.
What is not yet evident—except to the people who study the issue of outmigration closely—is that it is happening again. People are leaving blue cities and blue suburbs for the better economic conditions that exist in the red states.
The state most adversely affected is California. It's lost so many people compared to other states that for the first time since it gained statehood in 1848, it lost a congressional seat in the reapportionment that followed the 2020 national census.
The reasons people are leaving are the subject of a new film by Siyamak Khorrami, who left his native Iran with his family when he was 16 in search of a better life. He understands what's driving the "wanderlust" so many California residents are feeling.
"I have the opportunity to reach as many people [as] possible about the true hardships in our state," says Khorrami, who is both the producer and host of the recently released documentary Leaving California: The Untold Story. "While their stories are frustrating and heartbreaking, it's inspiring to witness the tenacity and will of the people who are surviving despite their circumstances. Hopefully others, after seeing this film, will be equally inspired to act and make change."
Why people are leaving California is important, especially now that its governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, has launched a stealth campaign for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination in case President Joe Biden stumbles.
The idea is not as far-fetched as it might seem. A recent NBC News poll showed just 26 percent of likely voters in the next election think the incumbent should run for another term. If that were not bad enough, in that same poll 53 percent of people who said they voted for Biden in 2020 said he shouldn't run again.
If Newsom's campaign becomes active and overt, he'll likely run on his ability to do for the United States what he's done for California. Progressives will love it.
Whether everyone else will love that promise too depends on understanding why so many have left California for deep red states like Texas, Florida, Montana, and Idaho.
California Policy Center President Will Swaim, who's featured in Khorrami's documentary, puts it simply enough. "California's bad ideas go national, really fast. if California fails, the United States fail[s]." Under Newsom, problems like crime and homelessness have exploded. The infrastructure is collapsing, public schools are failing, and the business environment has grown so unfriendly that in just the first six months of 2021, during the middle of the pandemic lockdowns, 74 companies moved their headquarters out of the state.
Another factor is the cost of living. According to U.S. Department of Labor data, four of the 10 American cities where the cost of living is the highest are in California: San Francisco, Orange County, Los Angeles, and Oakland. People are leaving paradise, it seems, because they cannot afford to stay.
People vote with their feet. California is not the only high-tax, heavy-spending, over-regulated state to be losing population in numbers that should be alarming to the politicians who run them. The exodus is happening in New York, Illinois, and New Jersey too—but their governors don't have a detectable chance of becoming president of the United States. Newsom does, so before he can turn the rest of America into California, it's best to look closely at what his leadership has meant to the people he serves. To a lot of them, it meant it was time to leave.
Newsweek Contributing Editor Peter Roff has written about U.S. politics and policy for more than 20 years. He is now a fellow at several public policy organizations including the Trans-Atlantic Leadership Network. Email him at RoffColumns@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and TruthSocial @TheRoffDraft
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
