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Why do people dislike California? (lemmy.ml)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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I recently moved to California. Before i moved, people asked me "why are you moving there, its so bad?". Now that I'm here, i understand it less. The state is beautiful. There is so much to do.

I know the cost of living is high, and people think the gun control laws are ridiculous (I actually think they are reasonable, for the most part). There is a guy I work with here that says "the policies are dumb" but can't give me a solid answer on what is so bad about it.

So, what is it that California does (policy-wise) that people hate so much?

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[โ€“] 28 points 3 years ago (2 children)

Same reason people don't like Florida. Lots of targeted negative media coverage. Conservatives think California is a shithole where homeless people are everywhere and people don't get arrested for robbing a store at gunpoint. Non-conservatives think Florida is full of hard-core Trumpers who want to ban all gay people from existing and is like a redneck 1984.

Reality is more nuanced. Both states are very large populations with a diverse makeup. But nuance is hard to convey in headlines. I personally live in Florida and love it, even though I hate DeSantis with a passion. The people here make up for the shitty politics. And the pendulum will inevitably swing back to the other side.

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  • [โ€“] 6 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    But nuance is hard to convey in headlines

    This 100%. I'd also like to bring up that population distribution has a lot to with it. Across America, rural communities tend to agree with each other and urban communities agree with each other. A person living in Miami and someone living in LA would probably agree with each other politically than someone from LA and someone living in a rural community in North California.

    The main issue comes from whether or not the majority of the state's people live in cities or the countryside. I live in a mid-size city in TN and almost everyone I know, including our governor mayor and local leaders, are very left-leaning. But because most of the state lives outside the cities, it doesn't really matter. Sorry, this comment turned into a rant haha ๐Ÿ˜…

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  • [+] 3 points 3 years ago* (2 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [โ€“] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    Yeah wtf is this dude smoking? Bill Lee isn't on the Trump or DeSantis level(yet). But he's wayyy right leaning. Outside of Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Knoxville this state is as red as it gets.

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  • [โ€“] 4 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Is there an alternative to DeSantis?

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 3 years ago*

    Not this last governor election but the one before it was a close race between DeSantis & Andrew Gillum. Gillum lost by a very small margin although some months after the election he was caught having sex with a male prostitute in a hotel room smoking meth. This was obviously unpopular, especially since he espouses family values and is married with kids.

    The next election DeSantis won more or less unopposed and the electoral map of Florida looked like one of Reagan's maps where he painted the whole country red.

    DeSantis's popularity seems to be dropping like a rock, however. A) he's trying to challenge Trump, which has been a bad idea for any Republicans who want to be elected in the last few years B) he's engaging very heavily in culture war which is financially hurting Florida and people are starting to see it

    He's trying to fight Disney, one of the main reasons Orlando is a major city. He's passing anti-illegal legislation where Florida has some of the highest rates of illegals and Latinos in the country - essentially guaranteeing price increases and inflation for all sorts of manual labor intensive services. Ie construction, landscaping, etc

    And of course housing prices are skyrocketing with Florida having the highest inflation in the country, topping 10% last year.

    And while Floridians are struggling to pay rent, his messaging is focusing on "anti-wokeness" and he's turning down federal aid money.

    Essentially DeSantis had a chance to be relevant nationally and he's throwing it all away while also pissing off his entire base in Florida. He thought he was untouchable and his overconfidence, I think, is backfiring.

    So going forward what will happen in Florida? It's hard to say. If there's a good candidate from the Democrat side, they have a chance. However Gillum did stain the Dem reputation for a while in Florida.

    Covid brought a lot of "anti-vaxxer / anti-lockdown" migrants so the Republicans have a good ~400k highly politically motivated new voters. However like I said, the Republicans policies are hurting Florida economically and that's never a good way to win elections.

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