[Danimal16]

I am from California and currently stationed in Virginia. Many of us who have served and those who support us and any other American that has traveled this great land understands that the diversity of our great land is what sets us apart as strong and unique.

I was raised in Southern California and have seen the state decay for every year of my adult life, especially since the mid seventies. I am a transplant from Wisconsin, my dad was a Marine transferred to El Toro and we stayed. What is so interesting is the influx of folks from all over that have come to California and how in at least the past two decades the attitude of those imigrants have changed and have changed the California Government and Culture.

I remember in my early years of college how diverse and accepting it seemed to be when meeting folks from outside the state who had relocated to California. It seemed to me to be a very accepting society and people were welcomed. There was the rule of law, or at least it seemed as such. Orange County was strong middle of the road conservative.

What seems to have happened is that the California that I knew and the California that the old timers knew and created has been subplannted with an arrogant class of folks that have degraded California to such a point that the term "Golden State" is more about the attitude of greed and arogance that hope and a chance to make it. What is really troubling, at least to me is the idiots are not observant enough or so arrogant that the don't even notice the decay.

Many of the folks who I grew up with have left the state, and many have relocated to what some Frisco folks would deride as something beneath the "standard???". So, take their arrogance for a grain of salt and let them figure it out what has caused a once great state to so degrade. As for me, I just don't know if I want to be around there anymore to try and help fix it. Virginia, Texas, Arizona, the Carolinas and so many other places offer the hope and stability that California is so lacking.