Horace Greeley was a 19th century American newspaper editor who advised the adventurous to, “Go West, young man” to find fame and fortune. Greeley’s advice can still be taken, but in the opposite direction.
The East coast isn’t perfect. However, compared to the modern West coast it is paradise itself. So any young man or woman considering a roost would do well to escape, or never move to, the land of medieval sanitation and authoritarian socialist politics. The East has its faults, but not as bad as that.
New York City is a pit, but with the election of Eric Adams there is a chance for reform, at least on crime. Granted, California leftist Governor Newsom is up for recall. But he’ll only be replaced with another Bolshevik droid. The place is too far gone for renewal for quite a while.
Despite the Democrats best efforts, Philly is still a great town, my favorite in the nation. It’s NYC without the pretension. Great museums, neighborhoods, bars, and restaurants abound. The Chesapeake region, where I live, is excellent. Though you’ve got to love water and the kind of people who want to live by water. The South, places like North and South Carolina, feature civilized people, great weather, and sensible government much of the time. My home state of Florida is culturally vacuous, but the warmth, the beach, the low taxes, and the current governor all mitigate towards a move there. If so, try Brevard County and the Space Coast. The south is overcrowded and Orlando isn’t Florida at all. The Gulf Coast? Meh. The Panhandle? More part of Alabama than Florida.
So what happened to the West coast? What happened to the California of Ronald Reagan and the Beach Boys, the Oregon of daring pioneers, the Washington state of Boeing? All subsumed by consequences of the 60s thirty years hence.
Then we saw the emergence of the hyper PC political environment, the Borgia family-like rule of the Democrats, and the multiculty attitude towards border security and the rest of the United States. California and its northern appendages seemed to virtually secede from the rest of America. No, they are not the only leftist states. But they seem to be the only ones where being anywhere to the right of Vladimir Lenin is considered a thought crime.
So why would a normal young man or woman settle in a place like that? Well, they could be of the same political and cultural variety as the rulers of the West coast. Then by all means stay or go there so your bacillus can be quarantined from the rest of us. If not, if you are of sound mind and want personal and political freedom, civilisation, and beaches without large rocks, then Go East, youngster. Anything is better than San Francisco.