General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo this is going to sound harsh...
...and I really don't mean it harshly. BUT...
If you want to NOT GET SHOT AND KILLED and/or not have your family members living with you shot and killed, or your kids in school shot and killed...
MOVE TO A STATE WITH MORE RESTRICTIVE GUN LAWS.
If you are a woman and want to maintain control of choices that affect your bodily health and well-being...
MOVE TO A STATE THAT HAS SOME PROTECTION FOR WOMENS RIGHTS.
Yes, I know it's not easy to just pick up and move yourself, a family, etc.
But there is a labor shortage almost everywhere. You may have a better chance of finding a job, moving now, for one thing. Yes, housing is more expensive in a lot of places, but what really matters?
Think back to the people who left Germany in the 1930s. They gave up everything... and saved their lives, and in many cases, they managed to rebuild their prosperity and ensure a better future for their children, by "leaving home" when it was becoming clear that "home" no longer cared about their well-being, their rights, or their lives.
I'm not sure there are any other good choices right now.
pessimistically,
Bright
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,316 posts)like where they live, or people rely on them, or they -- amazingly -- want to stay and work to make their home a better place. Telling them to move is just insulting.
applegrove
(118,600 posts)TygrBright
(20,756 posts)Another Jackalope
(112 posts)Until they didn't.
My late partner was a Hungarian 56er, who walked out to Austria through the marshes with her parents at the age of 4, in the middle of the winter, leaving everything and everyone behind.
It's easy to get so tied to the familiar that we fail to consider the consequences. This is a good reminder that if the consequences of staying are dire enough, the choice of leaving should be closely examined, even if it's not acted on immediately.
applegrove
(118,600 posts)Another Jackalope
(112 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,274 posts)Confressional seats if enough people leave.
OhioBlue
(5,126 posts)more favorable to Republicans and may only lose blue seats.
demmiblue
(36,838 posts)CrackityJones75
(2,403 posts)Fuck that bullshit!
USAFRetired_Liberal
(4,167 posts)Wasnt Sandy Hook in Connecticut? I dont know what type of gun laws that the state has, but I would think they would be strict seeing that its a blue state.
CTyankee
(63,901 posts)imagine. I thought a lot about it since it was around the time I lost a niece to gun violence (in her, and my, native state of Texas). I hate to say this but in both cases we were all white middle class people. If anything we here in CT had to look at our whiteness and our privilege which means NOTHING in the presence of a madman, or a drunk man, with access and opportunity can take lives and ruin others lives.
I will never, ever live in Texas again and I'm third generation Texas by birth and neither will any of my immediate family.
AndyS
(14,559 posts)However even that doesn't prevent ALL gun deaths.
Gun restrictions do work and work well to prevent useless death and injury.
dsc
(52,155 posts)they used to have some gun manufacturers there (Colt for one).
cachukis
(2,231 posts)the horizon. Refugees, in the third world, as a rule, have nothing to lose. Most of us would lose something if uprooted. Might be wiser, but it's hard to leave the comfort zone.
StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)Everyone doesn't have the wherewithal to pick up and move to other states.
jpak
(41,757 posts)SoCalDavidS
(9,998 posts)Things are only going to get worse.
There is not a state where there haven't been mass shootings. Gun laws are pretty meaningless, when you have the 2nd Amendment, and the NRA.
I've already resolved that gun violence will exist for the remainder of my lifetime, and now it appears abortion restrictions will as well.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)SoCalDavidS
(9,998 posts)I don't want to think about it while my parents are alive. So when the time comes, hopefully I'm still able to pursue it. This country does not agree with me.
secondwind
(16,903 posts)Treefrog
(4,170 posts)So
TygrBright
(20,756 posts)California has one of the lower firearm death rates.
The numbers look large because the population of California is so large. Per capita, however, the firearm death rate is quite low.
helpfully,
Bright
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)I could name some other states with this problem.
So please let us know what perfect state you live in and where should we all move?
Hekate
(90,633 posts)Treefrog
(4,170 posts)Hello?
AndyS
(14,559 posts)as long as the gunners run things there will be death and injury. So now, what's your point?
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)Mkay?
Marius25
(3,213 posts)in the country.
dsc
(52,155 posts)CA has about as many people as Texas and Georgia combined. So yes, they will tend to have more mass shootings but not more per capita.
johnp3907
(3,730 posts)Raine
(30,540 posts)are just so easy to do..
VarryOn
(2,343 posts)Put out by Bureau of Labor Statistics in July:
https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
Vermont ranks 5th and probably meets both of your criteria.
LeftInTX
(25,224 posts)Too bad, our unemployment isn't making headlines.
VarryOn
(2,343 posts)My takeaway is the smaller states are the better destinations . Sure, we'd be bored out of our skulls, but we'd get paychecks. Lol
The OP (TygrBright) was castigated as being harsh with his post, but he wasn't. The largest impediment to people gaining employment is refusing to relocate. I've done it; it's difficult. But, it can pay off.
LeftInTX
(25,224 posts)oil, service etc..
Manufacturing always takes a big hit during recessions. (Texas is not a big manufacturing state)
But still, we can say, "It's the economy stupid to Abbott in 2022"..LOL We can compare it to blue states!
VarryOn
(2,343 posts)I've got a lot of friends there. I go there as much as I can. There are actually some good people there...Democrats. Not all are the stereotype Republicans who hate women.
Still, I wouldn't want to live there. I like having four distinct seasons. AndI especially don't like summers as hot as it can get in TX.
I go there mostly because my company is a customer of one of the best railroads in the US, headquartered in Fort Worth. My wife, son, and I go there occasionally for personal reasons, mostly for Nascar races a couple times per year. Plus, there's lots to do in the DFW area.
sanatanadharma
(3,696 posts)Indeed, so hard that apparently people can not do so; they are seemingly trapped, not living free lives.
Is all this talk about American freedom simply action-less talk? Is freedom available only to the few?
What binding desires, what over-bearing fears, what attachment to the familiar do people have that, as though, imprison them in their lives; such that "I can't" becomes a mantra?
Hekate
(90,633 posts)I keep hoping things will get better in the US. Yes, we are in California, but just up the street from us is an actual doctor with a Recall Newsom sign, and last uear he had a ginormous Trump sign.
Joinfortmill
(14,412 posts)hunter
(38,309 posts)They were fleeing worse shit at home in 18th and 19th century Europe.
Many of them were Pacifists.
Some of them had been thrown off the land they had farmed for generations by gentry who had decided sheep were more valuable, and a whole lot less trouble, than tenant farmers.
I have an ancestor who didn't want to fight for the South in the Civil War, or the North especially, so he headed West.
My great grandparents were all Wild West. My grandparents ultimately ended up in Los Angeles because they didn't want to be ranchers, miners, or dairy farmers.
I think "brain drain" is a very real problem in parts of the U.S.A..
All the interesting kids leave -- the future scientists, doctors, engineers, artists, the LGBQT kids. Those who remain behind become resentful.
I don't think we can solve this problem until we neuter the U.S. Senate. Until then a minority population of fearful xenophobic white people will wield more than their fair share of political power and continue to support city-slicker con-men like Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell, politicians who are in it for their own gain.
If the United States does become another "shit hole" nation I'd encourage all the young people in my family to leave. It's in their genes.
Throughout human history migration has been one of our defining traits as a species. That's why all the continents except Antarctica and most of inhabitable islands had people living on them long before the Europeans started building their world empires.
If I lived in cosmopolitan Texas I'm not sure I'd be packing my bags yet. The white deplorables may have bitten off more than they can chew.
billh58
(6,635 posts)aimed at those who are inclined and able to move to another, more Liberal area. For those who would find it too traumatic, much like watching Fox News -- stay put and try to make changes. Not that hard to make the choice to relocate or deal with right-wing fascism in some form or fashion.
hadEnuf
(2,186 posts)Why should we move? This isn't Nazi Germany, yet, so there is no need to run away. WE have as many rights as THEY do and if we have to fight fire with fire, then so be it.
How about we stand against these bastards and make it stick instead of flushing everybody's rights down the toilet and fleeing like refugees in OUR OWN country?
wnylib
(21,423 posts)fight for better reresentation and laws?
Fight not just to elect better people, but to win culture wars with messaging.
kcr
(15,315 posts)Chautauquas
(4,438 posts)and the same bullshit that took place in the place I left starts happening in the place I moved to? Pack up and move again?
griloco
(832 posts)Lonestarblue
(9,967 posts)And it is the poor women who will suffer most from this abomination of a law. It is they who may have lived for generations in their communities, who rely on family and friends who help them get through the roughest patches of their lives. Asking people to simply give up their families and friends to move elsewhere is asking a lot.
Runningdawg
(4,516 posts)I'm NOT leaving again.
Texasgal
(17,042 posts)I'm a 5th generation Texan that has lived in very BLUE Austin, TX my entire life.
My elderly parents live five minutes away from me...my brothers and their family live close by.
I own my home. I have a good paying job.
I do not like what is happening in my state. I am a voter and more and more people are moving here from liberal states. They vote too.
Why would I leave?
Things are starting to change in Texas. I want to be part of that.
MerryBlooms
(11,761 posts)Land in a place and the politics change, RUN! You know what, no matter where You go, there You are. You can't spend your life running, and I for one, refuse to consider your method of pursuit of happiness or security, or whatever it is, for one second.
orleans
(34,045 posts)my daughter was talking about the best place to live -- due to climate change.
we live in illinois (just west of chicago--she grew up here, i grew up here) but after driving thru georgia (when she was a tweenager) she's had it in her head that she'd like to live in the south.
i used to tell her that wasn't happening. she'd argue with me; what about when she grows up? i'd tell her she still couldn't move there. (i admit i've had a bug up my ass about "the south" for years)
well, she's all grown up, married, has a little girl of her own now.
so today she tells me she thinks the best place to live is in the midwest--regarding climate change. i think illinois is pretty good. we have dem reps and gov. pritzker is (generally speaking) great.
chicago has a lot of gun violence. i googled cities with highest murder rates. this is from fbi crime stats 2019 (article published april 2021):
1. St. Louis, Missouri
2. Baltimore, Maryland
3. Birmingham, Alabama
4. Detroit, Michigan
5. Dayton, Ohio
6. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
7. New Orleans, Louisiana
8. Kansas City, Missouri
9. Memphis, Tennessee
10. Cleveland, Ohio
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/murder-map-deadliest-u-s-cities/57/
(i'm surprised chicago didn't make the top ten; i bet we would now--but who knows?)
(i'm still looking for chicago...)
11. Richmond, Virginia
12. Miami Gardens, Florida
13. Washington, D.C.
14. North Charleston, South Carolina
15. Peoria, Illinois
16. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
17. Columbia, South Carolina
18. San Bernardino, California
19. Cincinnati, Ohio
20. Columbus, Georgia
okay, i'm not copying any more. chgo is 28.
LeftInTX
(25,224 posts)infullview
(978 posts)This whole notion smacks of privilege. Poor people are not the ones with the resources to pick up and move. Even if you could find employment elsewhere, it's usually not the kind of work that would include enough financial incentives to make it worth while.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)That is all.
ecstatic
(32,679 posts)I don't know a single soul who lives out there and although the demographics and the risk of tsunamis, earthquakes, and wildfires freak me out a little, I'm still intrigued. I doubt I'll ever act on it... I'm just so used to east coast life.
jcgoldie
(11,627 posts)This is a pretty poor post.
LeftInTX
(25,224 posts)Smack dab in the middle...
Now what?
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area51
(11,904 posts)there's a shortage of good paying jobs.
ARPad95
(1,671 posts)escape that f**kwad emotionally and mentally abusive poor excuse for a husband. Operative word being "wish." I would never have yelled at her to do it. Too many "harsh" realities would have made her life worse if she had done it. And my aunt's house was literally next door.
Edited to add:
And she got out of Germany in 1927 when she was 19 years old. Her older sister and brother had already immigrated a couple years earlier.
xmas74
(29,673 posts)Upwards of ten grand to relocate? Do you also expect divorced parents to break court orders and move children across state lines because you've decided it's probably safer in another state?
Try harder.
iwannaknow
(210 posts)your skin is.