California ‘conservatives’ flood to little Idaho town with their socialism baggage in tow
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, just because a person flees the hard-left policies of California does not automatically mean he or she is a conservative—in fact probably not really at all—case in point, from a story published at Fox News today, in which we find “conservatives” who apparently think socialism is politically acceptable:
Retired California public employees are flocking to Idaho with their pension funds and becoming the financial "lifeblood" of at least one Idaho town, ruffling feathers with some locals who are taking issue with the ‘liberal baggage’ of the new residents.
The Los Angeles Times reported this month the town of Eagle, Idaho, has seen an influx of retired cops and firefighters moving to their town with many of them identifying as conservative but who ‘seem practically socialist to the old guard’ with their large pensions.
Eagle, Idaho is situated in the Boise Foothills just ten miles outside of the capital city, and the historically modest community has always been distinctly Idaho; but not so anymore:
Two California transplants squared off in the most recent mayoral race, and the key issue between the two former Golden State residents was ‘who was the least Californian.’
Former Eagle, Idaho, Mayor Jason Pierce arrived in Idaho more than 20 years ago with no public pension and lost an election to a more recent arrival with a six-figure California fire captain’s pension. Pierce told the outlet it was ‘ludicrous’ the new residents call themselves Republicans.
For context, California is currently facing a $68 billion deficit.
Pierce also noted that the six-figure pensions these retired government employees bring in are more than the “working people” in Idaho make; recent Census data show that the median household income in Idaho is $70,214, while the “median individual income” in 2021 was $30,621. Also from Fox:
‘They want to give the same kind of benefits to officers and state employees here,’ Pierce told the outlet. ‘And it’s like, ‘Wait a minute, you literally created a huge deficit in California, and now you want to do the same thing here?’’
…
‘Californians have been programmed in a way that they think they're conservative, but then they move to a place like Eagle, Idaho, and they start asking for the same things that the government was providing them in California,’ Pierce said.
‘Honestly, they don't even realize what they’re doing, but you have to kind of go, ‘Wait a minute, so you want your taxes to go up? Oh, I’d be willing to pay a little bit more, and it’s like, wait a minute, you just left all this.’
It shows how low our low threshold for a “win” is when we opt for the socialist-lite version instead of the fiscal conservative; could it be because all too often we treat politics like a social club, and embrace the “get along to go along” mentality?
This story serves as the perfect reminder that “political purity tests” (to a greater magnitude than most might think) absolutely ought to be implemented—it’s not a lot to expect that a person running for an American office believe in the Constitution, embrace individual responsibility instead of government handouts, and agree that at a time when we’re $34 trillion in debt, adding more debt to the taxpayer’s breaking back is unequivocally unacceptable.
Image generated by AI.