"The California haters are back. And once again, they get us all wrong"

[BigmanPigman]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-31/california-fire-homelessness-earthquakes-critics
So glad to read this article after reading trash talk here on DU about how horrible CA is. The RW talking points are spreading to liberals and of course the NY Times.
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"The political right, of course, has long specialized in the sport of California mockery. But we’re now getting it from the left, as well. People are running for their lives and losing their homes, and the haters can’t wait to do a grave dance."

“It’s the End of California As We Know It,” warned a New York Times headline on an op-ed piece declaring that “at the heart of our state’s rot” is “a failure to live sustainably.”

[braddy]

1. I just moved away 2 years ago and talk to my Cal. friends that now live in other states,

I'll try to stay out of this, but what a state that used to be, it was something.

[roody]

2. I haven't read the article, but

It is true that CA has not lived sustainably. No other states have either.

[demosincebirth]

3. I wouldn't live any other place than the Bay Area.

[Polly Hennessey]

4. I'll stay. I was born here.

Perhaps after the many have fled, we will get back our state. I suspect most who dislike California are ecstatically happy where they now reside. I have lived in other states like Alabama, Georgia, New York, Tennessee, Nevada and visited most of the others and this is where I want to be. Wildfires have plagued us for a long time and no doubt will continue. Most of us understand a new normal is upon us and are preparing for it. People who do not like California should not be here. Beginning to look like PG&E is sinking. Sounds good to me as I pay this month’s bill.

[Tikki]

5. California is progressive. I like to think myself progressive. It is warm in the

Winter months and cool in the Summer months were I live in California.

This is all a very good fit for me.

Tikki
P.S. California has been around a long time and will continue to be around a long time.

[Hekate]

6. Steve Lopez, the author of this fine essay, speaks for me. The part that hit home for me was...

Speaking of which, do we sit around in California wondering if the Southeast — where many states are governed by Republicans, not wifty liberals — is unlivable because decades of construction on fragile coastal land has put millions of people in the direct path of killer hurricanes?

Snip

But as a native, I’ve got a license to swing that club. (of criticism) And as I pointed out, our fair state is also home to the world’s fifth-largest economy and is a world capital of innovation and creativity. California has a hell of a lot more going for it than you’ll ever hear from our jealous critics and gasbag pundits. We have our share of problems for sure. But on issues such as climate change, immigration, criminal justice reform and investments in children, we are actively trying to make things better.

Snip

Why would anyone live here?

Gee, I don’t know. The 40 million or so people who call California home might have an answer or two, but let me offer a few of my own.

The beaches, the mountains, the deserts, the sunsets, the rural, the urban, the red, the blue, the people, the wildlife, the languages, the history, the diversity, the endless curiosities, the energy, the universities, the music, the art, the food, the culture, the climate, the risks that worked, the experiments that failed, the long tradition of break-away politics and the collective agreement that you can say or think of us what you will — we don’t really care one way or another — just shelter in place (unless you’re a firefighter) and please don’t move here.

[BigmanPigman]

7. Every word!

[CountAllVotes]

8. They can take their jealously and blow off

Some come and some go.

Many cannot make it work for them in the Golden State.

I'm here to stay.

Signed,

A fifth generation Californian