Come Hither, Californians -- but Please Check Your Politics at the Door

The Colorado Springs Gazette has a fun editorial today on why the migration of Californians to Colorado is a good thing, and a positive sign that we're doing things better here. I agree up to a point, though I think transplants should be required to sign a document, renouncing all the way-out and wacky political ideas for which that state is famous, before being allowed in.

We could set up highway checkpoints and airport screening areas where escaped Californians would be quizzed about their politics, much like California sets up screening points to stop invasive species or contagious plant diseases from crossing state lines. Those unwilling to recant -- to acknowledge the error of their ways and leave California ideas and politics in California -- will be turned back, or given a bus ticket to Portland. California should be quarantined, ideologically speaking, lest its refugees do even more harm than they already have to the intermountain West.

What will be the point of leaving California for Colorado or Wyoming or Montana, after all, if you continue to support the sorts of politicians and policies that made life in the Golden State unbearable?

The editorial correctly credits Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights as a major reason we're not the basketcase California is -- which is something people should keep in mind when they start taking shots at TABOR. And the paper proposes an intriguing new economic development strategy for Colorado, based on each Coloradan personally recruiting a Californian we care about to move here. And I'm willing to do my part.

So hey, all my California friends -- Mac and Jody, Marty, Scott and Molly, Bruce, Paul, Steve -- give it up already and come live in Colorado! The California dream is a dying ember. Taxes are lower here. Hassles are fewer. Avalanches are less of a threat than earthquakes. Sanity still prevails, outside a few urban enclaves. Our economy isn't completely in a shambles -- and you can help make it better. And you'll have the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (for as long as it lasts) to protect you against the predations of politicians.

We've got plenty of extra beds at the Paige house if you need a place to bunk while settling in.