As liberalism always does, leaving tremdous destruction in its wake.
The California Dream is fizzling out
June 27, 2011
By John D. Sutter, CNN
For California native Elaine Cali -- yes, that's her real name -- the best thing about growing up here was the smell of orange blossoms.
Elaine Cali is trying to hold onto her California of
yesteryear, a relaxed place where sun-kissed orange groves
thrived.
Her mom used to take the family on drives through Orange County's citrus groves, the windows down so they could take in the tangy, semi-tropical aromas. Back then in the '60s, her brown hair blowing in the wind, Cali saw this place as a coastal paradise -- where picturesque farmland stretched on forever and the idea of swimming pools and movie stars seemed shiny and new. There was room for everyone back in those days.
Now 56, the rare seventh-generation Californian is trying to save one of Orange County's last orange groves, which sits abandoned behind a chain-link fence near her Santa Ana home. A developer wants to turn the land into yet another ticky-tacky subdivision -- the kind that now occupies every valley in this sprawling greater-metro area, which extends from the Pacific Ocean to the San Bernardino Mountains, some 70 miles away.
In doing so, she's trying to preserve an older image of this state -- one before it became so congested and expensive and inaccessible to almost any average American.
She's holding onto the California Dream.
"It's a piece of history," she said of the grove. "There's not much of this left."
California isn't what it used to be. Sure, America's most populous state, with 37.3 million people, is still home to Hollywood, "The OC," Silicon Valley and other cultural and economic engines. But for average Americans, the state seems to have lost its appeal.
No longer is California the larger-than-life destination where anything's possible -- the pot of gold at the end of our collective path westward.
It's too crowded and pricey for that.
Census data outlines the state's fall from grace. California grew at a slower rate from 2000 to 2010 than in any period since statehood in 1850, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released this year. Put another way: This is the biggest population slump in California's history.
Many middle class people are leaving the state for Texas, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona, where taxes and the cost of living are lower. In the past decade, 1.5 million more people left California for other states than came to California from another part of the United States, according to analysis from the Public Policy Institute of California.
Full story: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-27/us/california.dream.census.slump_1_groves-california-for-other-states-slower-rate?_s=PM:US
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
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