Our Children Are Moving Away

Californians voting for liberals has not stopped parents from voting with their feet and moving their children to more conservative states.

A story in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal showed that, from 2000 to 2010, blue states have lost their youth in double-digit percentages.

Overall, parents moved their families from liberal bastions of California, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to the conservative strongholds of Texas, North Carolina, Nevada, Utah, Florida and Idaho.

In short: Parents can't afford and don't want to live in states that raise taxes and lower social standards. They don't want to live in states with high unemployment and fewer opportunities. They want to live in states with less government and pro-family standards.

Our so-called low-information voters -- formerly known as "stupid voters" -- will never comprehend this trend because they never consider the impact of their votes when they cast them in favor of measures calling for such things as higher taxes, more regulation and gay marriage.

Low-information voters just want to feel good about themselves on Election Day, so the consequences of scaring away businesses and destroying traditional marriage are never as much as a thought.

And the loss of our children -- our future as a state -- is proof of liberal government and lower social standards. For liberals, the economic impacts of our future workforce moving away is an issue they might worry about later.

Two years ago, we had two friends -- bright, intelligent and hard-working parents -- move from Southern California to Oklahoma because they couldn't afford to live here. The anti-family attitude of California also didn't give them any reason to stay.

These are exactly the people we need in California if our state is to stay viable.

We shouldn't have to wait to read a story in the Wall Street Journal to figure out that their moving is our loss. By then, it's too late.