Academic

What happened to California?

By Tung Yin

I've now lived in four states: California, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Oregon.  Two West Coast states, one Midwest, and one South.  (I think Oklahomans think of their state as Midwestern, but in my book, if your state seceded during the Civil War, it's part of the South.)  Actually, five states, since I was born in Michigan, but we left when I was very young, so I have no conscious memories of it.

Most of my life has been in California (ages 3 to 28, 29-34), and during my childhood/teens/20s, I would have thought it ridiculous to conclude that any other state would be a better place to live.  Aside from Hawaii, California has the best climate; it has breathtaking geographic vistas, with sandy beaches and mountains all within a short drive from Los Angeles; all kinds of major amusement parks; Hollywood; a seemingly well-diversified state economy built on tourism, agriculture, entertainment, and high technology.

But now, it's basically bankrupt, the state seems ungovernable, and for the first time ever, the state did not gain at least one House seat after the census.  This story about California's DMV seems like a good allegory for what went wrong.  The writer's tale of travail over getting his California driver's license and car registration after moving there contrasts mightily with the relative ease of the experience for me when we moved here to Oregon.

Full post as published by The Yin Blog on January 05, 2011 (boomark / email).