Gavin's Watch: So Many People Fled California It Could Lose a Congressional Seat in Census

Eureka! We found that gold you hear about in California. And it just left.

California lost so many people in the last decade that when the census numbers are all tabulated, it could lose a congressional seat. Even the state’s Rose Bowl game just left for Texas.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the California Department of Finance says the state grew by only 21,200 residents in the past year, the lowest since 1900.

“This is a real sea change in California, which used to be this state of pretty robust population growth,” said Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy Institute of California. “It hasn’t been for some time now. But it’s now gotten to the point where the state is essentially not growing population-wise at all.”

[…] If the trends continue statewide and California’s population decreases, one of the most immediate effects could be the loss of a seat in Congress, Johnson said.

A Facebook group for people fleeing California that I’ve been monitoring for months is teeming with tales of getting the heck out of the Golden State. They don’t want to leave, but Leftist politics, remote work, fires, high energy prices, and high taxes force their hand.

They post photos of the homeless camps, rates for moving vans, give tips on where you can get a coveted 26′ truck from UHaul, ask for help in finding the most conservative cities in America to move to. They call on fleeing Californians to respect the beliefs of the state they’re moving to. Another person posts a parody article saying Texas has issued a stay-at-home order for Californians. A woman posts a receipt from a San Francisco parking garage to explain how the city is bleeding her dry.

A recent poster asked where people are going. They’re going back home to Knoxville, a guy jokes. Others chime in that Montana has beckoned them, North Carolina is a nice place to raise a family, and one commenter says he’s going to Missouri. Anyplace but California.

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— uhaul (@uhaul) December 13, 2020

It’s cheaper to rent a truck to move to California than to move out of California.

Staggering differential.

Supply & demand. https://t.co/8G5nMW3Ykf

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 13, 2020

Tech billionaires are leaving and taking their employees with them. Even Gene Simmons of the rock group KISS is leaving California for Washington. Forbes reports that Simmons is disgusted. “Enough is enough,” he says.

“California and Beverly Hills have been treating folks that create jobs badly and the tax rates are unacceptable,” Simmons said. “I work hard and pay my taxes and I don’t want to cry the Beverly Hills blues but enough is enough.” Simmons isn’t the only one saying that. California may have more millionaires and billionaires, but the tax cost of living in the Golden State is high. It could go higher still, since the 13.3% Tax Rate may be raised to 16.8% retroactive to January 1, 2020. California top 13.3% rate is the highest in the nation, and it applies equally to ordinary income and capital gain. There’s even a legislative proposal for a 0.4% wealth tax.

The Democrats control all levers of power in California. There’s a super-majority at the statehouse, a governor in Sacramento who attempts to control people’s movements in the pandemic, but not his own. Instead of spending money to shore up and increase basic infrastructure such as water storage and forest and wildland management, California has spent billions on the laughably labeled “high-speed” train and lawsuits against President Trump. Pet projects have siphoned off billions from the state coffers and still politicians demand more from taxpayers – even after they’ve moved.

They decide how you should cook your food by plotting to get rid of natural gas appliances, which use the cheapest fuel around, while forcing them to pay for more expensive energy that won’t work at night and when the wind isn’t blowing. Brown-outs such as shutting off air conditioning and lights in August, have become commonplace because of these “renewable energy mandates.” They’re making personal travel more expensive by phasing out gas cars.

Democrats didn’t like the way people worked so they outlawed it.

They’re remaking California into their own utopia and, as predicted, people can’t afford to stay, nor want to. They want more freedom.

Those who kick up a fuss to protest lockdown orders and demand a recall of the governor are labeled as cranks, conspiracy theorists, and greedy by their betters in government.

California’s Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer told the Union-Tribune that the pandemic has accelerated the changes in the state’s population.

“A lot of people who might otherwise have come to California didn’t, because they didn’t go anywhere,” Palmer said. “They stayed home. That’s something that’s different than any other year.”

And they’re not likely to come, either. As beautiful as the Golden State is, the “sunshine tax,” as greedy politicians call the high cost of living in California, is now too high.

When people get a whiff that California lawmakers plan to impose a decade-long wealth tax on people who only come to the state for 60 days in a year, they won’t bother to come at all. That includes students, people seeking medical care, and snowbirds.

So now the universe is telling California that it wants less of its brand of “leadership,” not more. And because so many people have left and will likely continue to do so, the state might lose a congressional seat in the census.

I’d joke that the last guy who leaves California should turn out the lights, but they already did that, too.

Victoria Taft is a former resident of California and the host of “The Adult in the Room Podcast With Victoria Taft” where you can hear her series on “Antifa Versus Mike Strickland.” Find it here. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, MeWe, Minds @VictoriaTaft