UPDATED: VIDEO: Victor David Hanson on the demise of California

Two news stories related to the decline of America, particularly the Left Coast, and more particularly California, keep bubbling to the top of the tank from time to time.

Item: A number of counties in eastern Oregon and Washington states are thinking seriously about separating from the western parts of those states and joining Idaho. See "'Greater Idaho' movement to absorb rural counties from Oregon gains momentum" and "The Greatear Idaho Movement". (The second article includes insstructions on how to join!)   

Why do you suppose that is? [Suppose, hell! They know this. Ed.] That's right. They're tired of living in states where scabrous "homeless encampments" such as this Bidenville* are spreading across the landscape like great pus-filled cancer lesions, while the state governments -- misruled by Democrats -- stand [sit, shurely. Ed.] idly by.  

Item: Forbes Home reports in "10 States People Are Leaving" that, according to USPS change-of-address data, more people are fleeing than any other state. Not to be racist but let's call them "white flees". 

The Golden State [more like fool's gold. Ed.] saw a net loss of over 101,000 households despite a mostly pleasant climate and robust tech industry. Rising housing costs, rising taxes and politics seem to be driving many people to look for opportunities elsewhere. 

Other factors that emigrants have cited are the rising threat of wildfires and the constantly increasing cost of living. Forbes, being politically correct, passes over the fact that California's cities have become not just livable, but downright dangerous, thanks to the proliferation of Bidenvilles, like this one on Oakland's Wood Street. 

In this video, Victor Davis Hanson, an American classicist, historian, farmer, and political commentator, details the deliberate process by which the standard of living for Californians has deteriorated over the past decades, and points the bony finger of indignation toward those responsible.

 

* In America, in the Dirty Thirties, collections of shacks and shanties like today's "homeless encampments" were known as "Hoovervilles", after then President Hoover. Nowadays, in France and North Africa, they are called "bidonvilles". 

Wikipedia: Un bidonville est la partie défavorisée d'une ville caractérisée par des logements très insalubres et construits par les habitants avec des matériaux de récupération, une grande pauvreté et sans aucun droit ou sécurité foncière. 

In short (and in English) a shanty town built of oil drums or other metal containers, especially on the outskirts of a city, with great poverty and without right or basic security. In Europe and Africa, bidonville. The Electric Company's Letterman changes just one letter to get Bidenvilles, which is what they're called in Brandon's America.

Further reading (added 21/8/23): "Actually, Joe, all your 'objectives' were failures", by Victor Davis Hanson, on the American Greatness site.