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April 2, 2008

Off the Island

Justin Katz

John Derbyshire's "March Diary" has much with which Rhode Islanders might sympathize, and that makes one wonder whether forswearing the "island" in our name mightn't be a step in the right direction. The following is from a reader's letter:

I see you've got the "New York Funk". I was born and raised in NYC, and couldn't get a job in the metropolitan area (about 30 years ago), so took a job in New Jersey. Wanted to be close to kinfolk still in NY.

At the time, New Jersey was a better state (no income tax, lower property taxes, lower sales tax, etc.) than NY.

A curious phenomenon has occurred over the last 30 years, however. I moved here because I couldn't get a job in engineering (my skill) after I got out of the Army. Been conservative all my life. In the 30 years, many New Yorkers have been moving to NJ to escape the taxes, and etc. that you pointed out in your column.

These newcomers were, for the most part, liberal. Unbelievably, these people have brought their liberal voting habits with them, apparently not understanding how they ruined NY and now, New Jersey is no better than New York in almost any measure.

We've made similar observations (on the moved-to side) with respect to New Hampshire, and some non-California Western states arguably provide confirmation. Derb notes that people are also bringing their liberal plague with them as the flee England, although the emphasis, there, is not on the economic damage that socialistic policies have done, but rather on the increase in crime wrought by liberal policing/weapon laws combined with mass immigration of unassimilable foreigners.

The echoes in proposed local laws and perennial progressive favorites are impossible to miss.

Comments

In New England, Vermont was the first to fall (Ben & Jerry & their ilk moved in - and now it's one big hippie commune, err, I mean progressive mecca).

Now NH is succumbing.

It's also happening to Virginia and South Carolina (and presumably the other SE states) and Colorado in the West.

Liberals are like locusts - they ruin one place and then swarm to another.

Posted by: Tom W at April 2, 2008 7:16 AM

Tom W as usual is correct.The NY elitist liberals move into areas that have gotten along just fine without their demented ideas.The first inkling is usually gun control.These worms don't know which end of a gun shoots and they fear people who are ready to take care of themselves.This is happening here,but not all of the infestation comes from NY.Arthur Handy and David Segal are perfect examples.Oh,I'm originally from NY,but hardly a liberal.

Posted by: joe bernstein at April 2, 2008 7:56 AM

I have relatives moving to Idaho (my brother-in-law would fit in well with the Mark Fuhrman cult and the black helicopter crowd), and believe me, liberals will not go THERE.
Hey, there's always Alabama and Mississippi, too.

Posted by: rhody at April 2, 2008 11:12 AM

Those states are looking real nice right now Rhody.

Posted by: Mike at April 2, 2008 7:22 PM

I agree with Mike.

The following states have been mentioned and there are distinct tax advantages living in each one of them over living in Rhode Island: Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont.

Some even have weather advantages over Rhode Island.

You might want to check tax listings for each state at: http://www.retirementliving.com/RLtaxes.html

Posted by: Ken at April 2, 2008 11:37 PM