Guess where all the growth is, and who is not suffering from the slowdown so badly? Guess who has the least business-hostile environment?

Places that seem to consider citizens second class to businesses?

The remaining bottom five:
…
47. Ohio
…

As a resident of said state, it does have its misgivings. After losing places like Mead, NCR(quite worker friendly until the AT&T merger) and General Motors, it should be no surprise that we’ve flipped gradually from red to something a lot closer to blue.

Now what do you describe a population whom:
1) Rejects the overuse of environmentalism (such as seen often on The Left). Note that there have been more than a few environmentalist Ohioans that have headed off to Colorado/elsewhere.

2) Considers Detroit automotive manufacturing something that must be doable within our borders at all times.

3) Wants a southern border as well defended as a certain border in the Middle East.

4) Rejects illegal immigration and approves punishment of all who aid/abet it. This includes the adoption of the Arizona “Business Death Penalty” laws.

5) Defends the 2nd Amendment and rejects gun control laws entirely.

6) Is adversarial towards globalization and free trade only due to seeing broken promises of prosperity for over 30+ years. The only thing we seem to get is a ton of talk about pushing Ohio to be hostile to anything that isn’t a business.

If you still want to call that state “socialist”, go ahead. I won’t blame you, but it’s not as if we haven’t succeeded with a healthy mix of respecting the worker and respecting the honest business(as opposed to places like Wal*Mart after Sam Walton).

I fervently wish that reversing the trend herein New Jersey were as easy as you suggest it should be. But the truth is, that New Jersey appears to have permanently left the responsibility reservation. Democrat voting majorities simply return the same people to statewide office over and over.

Democrat candidates for office are no longer held to any of their campaign promises, regardless of how outrageous they are.

Just as an example, Corzine promised to reduce property taxes by forty percent in four years — he called it “40 in 4.” Needless to say, he has done no such thing, and, having promised to return the state to fiscal responsibility, he has instead driven us further into fiscal disrepute. Corzine entered office with an essentially 24 billion dollar bonded indebtedness, which, by the end of his term will have increased again by half.

It is ALL about “prevailing wage” union jobs — school construction and highway repair. Period.

This summer, he signed an admittedly unbalanced budget, which expressly violates our State constitution. His excuse was that it would have been even more out of balance if he had signed the budget the Legislature passed! So, he redlined some excesses, but not enough to balance the budget. As a result, many papers laud him for fiscal responsibility. No one holds his feet to the fire.

And, he has told supporters that he will do “whatever it takes” to win re-election. Many interpret that to mean he will spend up to $100 million on his re-election campaign in order to win.

No one can compete with that.

In addition, the rampant, and largely Democrat corruption we have been experiencing, seems not to move people in casting their ballots. Not at all.

Currently, the former dual Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the Budget Oversight Committee, former Senator Wayne Bryant, is on criminal trial in federal court for, among other things, holding a few state paid “no show” jobs.

One he got by muscling the state’s University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) into personally hiring him as their lobbyist — to lobby himself (in those dual Chairmanships) so he would increase the state budget amount to be given to the school!

Another was with a neighboring county, where he was personally hired for work — but did not show up himself! He would send an associate from his law firm. But Wayne personally drew the salary.

His “job” at UMDNJ consisted of showing up around once a week or so, at an essentially satellite facility closer to his home, where he sat around reading newspapers for a few hours.

But the combined salaries for the no-show jobs and his Legislator’s salary, totalled about $150,000.00 or more a year. He held them for a few years, and that allowed him to “boost” his state pension. He just retired a year or two ago with an $87,000.00 a year pension!

He was a part legislator!

But no one seems to really care. He had to resign in disgrace when he was indicted, and another Democrat from his machine was immediately appointed. She will undoubtedly be “re-elected” next year.

TEXAS….
Most active death penalty state in the nation
No state income tax
Gun Ownership not only a sacred right, but a duty
Homestead Act…IRS cannot confiscate your home
Castle Law….can use dealy force to protect your property
Solidly conservative

Yea, we have our faults, but I guarantee it will be a long time before the “blue locusts” could EVER hope to come here and change things.

Goodeye_Closed on October 14, 2008 at 12:05 PM

I am seeing way too many New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Michigan license plates here in Houston. It is like the late 1970’s when a third of Michigan moved here.

I think we will have to start running them off again.

One of the less-populous states might be a better bet.

Bear in mind it gets hot in their summers and the flies are BIG.

Most of the county is ranchland, some set aside for wildlife hunts, etc.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin lives down there…I’ve seen him in the local Wal*Mart…very nice fellow….

…850 people in the county…my kid of place….

Puritan1648 on October 14, 2008 at 6:23 PM

I wish Texas would have the balls to secede. There are many conservatives in the other 49 states that would pay money to join the state and be part of the ’cause’.

The thirst for freedom is dwindling as the addiction to sloth and welfare is growing. Doesn’t anyone want freedom anymore?

Obama getting elected makes me think of the Elves in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings who gradually leave Middle-Earth and all its problems by sailing on ships to the West. It is either march west and try to escape on one of those ships, or stay and die valiantly fighting the inevitable hordes of totalitarianism that is slowly but surely overtaking our country.

Michigan is like being in a hospital bed paralyzed and unable to signal the nurse that you are not in a coma and you are not brain dead. The nurse who is on a welfare work study program cannot read the charts anyway and she has already decided what you need. Plus your shoes are her size

Yet, Romney was a vote magnet in the primaries. Mochigan was an opportunity state for the politician who promised more than a windmill factory

I still wish I could sell my house and get out

entagor on October 14, 2008 at 12:27 PM

I was married for three years and now divorced. My ex-wife lives with my 5-year old son in Clawson, MI. I pay for him to go to the Catholic grammar school there which is very good.

That school is the only good thing in that cesspool state. Best thing to happen to the USA is if MI secedes and joins Canada.

The southeast part of MI is a moral, economic, social wasteland. I got a great job in Alabama. The people are soooooo much nicer here. The wife would not follow me because she put herself and her father first rather than putting the marriage and our own family first.

Some day, the boy will join me here in God’s country. I’m Catholic and have FAR more in common with the whites and blacks here in Bama that Michigan or California (first 35 years of my life), including the Southern Baptists and other evangelicals.

Do you know a country in a serious financial crisis that would like to get some hard quick cash by selling some territory?
JiangxiDad on October 14, 2008 at 4:01 PM

I think that pretty much describes our situation. We’re not in a buy position these days.

Puritan, I have liberal friends and realitives here and they are different than the radical north-east variety….Think Kinky Friedman and you’ll get the idea.

I live 150-200 miles south of you from the way it sounds (CC).

Goodeye_Closed on October 14, 2008 at 1:27 PM

…every state, no matter how “backward” by northeastern establishment “sophisticate” standards has liberal scum, much as every dog has fleas, if you look close enough.

I wanted to note that Texas isn’t exactly an idyll…that there are places to avoid. Houston is definitely one…Katy is nice, and nearby…but I remember one of my friends in Houston, over by where an old Compaq HQ was, lived in a neighborhood where the houses mostly had burglar bars on the windows…on the inside…how nasty must the neighborhood be when the burglars will, as a parting shot, steal your burglar bars?…

…if you’re in Corpus, you’re almost exactly 100 miles south on I-37. We’re about 9 miles from the onramp…and we’ve been there exactly once…to see the Lexington and have lunch….

…personally, I like McMullen county…due west and north a bit from Corpus, and the country right beneath our own…the county seat, Tilden, has slightly over half of the population in the county…450 souls (2000 census)…it consists of one state highway down the middle north/south, two roads paralleling the state road, and a few feeder roads running east/west…most of ‘em unpaved.

Most of the county is ranchland, some set aside for wildlife hunts, etc.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin lives down there…I’ve seen him in the local Wal*Mart…very nice fellow….

…850 people in the county…my kid of place….

Do you know a country in a serious financial crisis that would like to get some hard quick cash by selling some territory?

I hear Iceland is for sale.

Apparently the 49% who object to these costs don’t realize that they can vote for a more responsive — and less costly — state government:

The same way we can (supposedly) vote for a more responsive and less costly federal government.

Browncoatone on October 14, 2008 at 3:54 PM

Maybe a country in need of money will sell some land. We grew tremendously because Russia and France needed money. Do you know a country in a serious financial crisis that would like to get some hard quick cash by selling some territory? The only thing is, it must be vacated before the new owner takes possession.

People need to fix the state they’re in. Otherwise you’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

No, what they need to do is move somewhere together. One conservative/libertarian moving to Montana, another moving to Alabama, and another to Alaska only distributes the vote. They need to concentrate the vote by selecting a common destination. For the north easterners maybe New Hampshire.

But the real problem with America is that there is no place left to “settle”. For over a hundred years every time somebody got sick of Massachusetts or New Jersey they could just pack up and move west. Where do they go now? Wherever is sinking the slowest?

I live in Oregon and I see the same pattern that the rest of you do. Little Beirut AKA Portland Oregon is a destination for Liberals from California to New York because of the lower cost of living coupled with the “Bohemian” community that I can’t stand. Now these idiots come over here for the natural beauty and (relatively) low costs/taxation and what do they do? They try their damnedest to make Portland compete with New York and San Francisco. We’ve got a $400,000 titanium “sculpture” that resembles an erect penis down on Burnside that the Local City Government thought was worthy of public dollars, just to give one example.

Now the majority of the State of Oregon is rural and conservative (though for generations they’ve voted Democrat because Republicans are evil or so the schools have taught them) but these rural areas just do not have the population to vote in a better government. We’re stuck with our Bohemian masters. Where to go? Washington can’t even elect a governor without the left stealing the election. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada are going from purple to blue as they absorb refugees from California. One can sympathize with Alaska’s independence movement.

What we need, truly need, is a new frontier. The open ocean, orbital space colonies or perhaps some hearty persons to settle on Antarctica (UN treaties be damned) because only with a new place can we start over where the urban socialist hasn’t already contaminated the soil.

blackelkspeaks on October 14, 2008 at 2:39 PM

You’re right of course. And it doesn’t take much of a genius to see it. 200 years is about right from settlement to peak. Spengler talked about it, other cultures from the Greeks to the Chinese experienced it. I hardly saw it coming until it nearly knocked me down. Now I’m reeling from it, and nobody I know even knows what I’m talking about. Talk about you’re world getting smaller. Every day it diminishes another mile. I just need to figure out how/where to get my two girls best situated. Don’t care a rat’s ass for myself anymore. At least that’s something.

Manly, here’s your chance. Get thyself south. Now! – HornetSting on October 14, 2008 at 2:59 PM

All in good time, darlin’

Plus it’s too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

Are you on drugs? Say what we will about New Jersey, but it enjoys some of the most moderate weather in the country. Summers rarely average over 85 degrees, with a brief heat wave now and then. Winters are a joke…the state goes into full blown panic if we get 6 inches of snow. Average winter temps rarely go below the high 20’s with only periodic cold spells of a few days. No Arizona oven heat, no Minnesota deep freezes, no Buffalo blizzards, no weeks of constant Seattle rain, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no wildfires, no dust storms, no Santa Ana winds.

The mosquito is the state bird and so is the middle finger.

Thanks to more effective insect control the NJ mosquito is a thing of myth. The middle finger is reserved only for people who use turn signals or mistakenly follow the road signs in this state.

Camden is the murder capitol of the world.

Actually, that dubious honor belongs to either Detroit or D.C.

One reason NJ property taxes are so high is that there is a great deal of wasteful duplication of services at the local level. Small towns may have to band together and pool their resources in order to cut costs. – sauropod on October 14, 2008 at 10:40 AM

A very minor reason. Major reasons? A bloated state bureaucracy, sweetheart packages for state employees and a coven of vampires known as the NJEA.

As long as the government pays people to be social leaches and discourages them from working or learning, the problem will get worse.

The area that is now the United States was once blessed due to its lack of population density. The few million or so Indians living throughout North America had it made before their land was flooded with many multi-millions of foreigners, from all over the world. In the early years of the Republic, when the land was primarily a wilderness, the malign influence of foreigners was limited to coastal areas where they got off the boats. It took many generations before settlers and pioneers managed to travel far inland, building their towns and cities in once pristine regions. Finally, it took the labor demands of the Industrial Revolution to really ramp up the waves of immigration, which washed over this country like a hurricane surge.

Looking back, it seems clear that these voluminous settlers fouled up every area they trod upon. Its what people have always done; its what happened in Europe and Asia, and what led to people leaving the old countries. Even Jefferson recognized that the American experiment in liberty would not be viable in an over-populated, non-agrarian society. Eventually, America became just like the places these people left behind.

In the past, the migration westward eased the ever-present problems rooted in the human tendency toward asininity. If your neighbors got too sickening in their behavior and lousy judgment, you could always leave and build a place in the woods, on the plains, in the mountains, or in the desert. American liberty prospered in a country that was too vast to govern, in an historical time period where the level of technology limited the ability of the government to hound everyone. But it was only a short-lived solution that delayed the inevitability of being victimized by your fellow man.

What we see today is the fruit of many years of the growth of Leviathan government, over many generations. And it will only get worse, since people today are mostly employees of some company someplace, and not independent farmers that are self-responsible. People today rely on their paychecks to survive, not their own landed resources. Most everyone is on the government dole, in some form or fashion.

There’s not much hope for the future in this scenario. The only thing left is to find some obscure, unsettled, and likely unpopular part of this country that hasn’t yet fallen under the satanic sway of trendy, popular culture, and the idiocies of the community. And live your life like a mountain man or monk of old, in some secluded oasis of sanity in a lunatic world.

The Shakers and the Amish are the models…

Move – six months planning and $20K net out-of-pocket depending on housing/job/etc. market. Few uncertainties, minimal dependence on others.

Liberalism relies upon the tendency of conservatives to regret the negative consequences of their policies, and the absolute refusal of liberals to admit theirs. To average folks, the plight of those who fail to prosper under capitalism justifies social welfare. To liberals, the abject failure of a trillion-dollar welfare state means another trillion dollars are needed. The voters of New Jersey will never admit they’ve been hoodwinked by corrupt socialists, or that liberal policies have rendered their state almost uninhabitable. They’ll just flock to the next shady mobbed-up Democrat with an exciting new tax and spending plan. The alternatives are unthinkable, so they don’t think about them.

On the national level, this is what makes Obama-style socialism so rabid and dangerous. As long as there’s someplace to run, they will blame the escapees for the failure of the system. Therefore, there must be nowhere left to run.

AZCoyote on October 14, 2008 at 1:28 PM

Tks. for the invite. I’ve vacationed in your beautiful state twice. Last April my family hiked part-way down into the Grand Canyon, just before the fires. Checked out Flagstaff too.

Of course, have been in the lib zone too (N.Tucson to Sedona) but not looking to re-create what I’ve got.

I’d probably be partial to the higher altitudes in the SE corner, but am concerned with the illegal problem. I hear Fort Huachuca itself is overrun nightly by illegals. If it wasn’t for that, I would be considering the state more seriously.