Writing for the Claremont Review of Books, the always interesting (and emphatic) Michael Anton reviews a new book Texas vs. California. His conclusion describes a dilemma.
If Texas and California could simply each go its own way—“drill, baby, drill” versus yet another solar panel—peaceful coexistence might be possible. That’s the way Texans see things. If those left-coast fruitcakes want to pay $5.00 per gallon and suffer rolling blackouts, fine with us and enjoy.
But Californians see Texas as a mortal threat not merely to their state’s business model and way of life but to humanity itself. Drilling is killing. Texas cannot be allowed to be Texas because if Texans get their way, the planet will superheat, destroying us all. You may think that’s ridiculous hyperbole, and maybe it is, but Californians believe it and will not be talked out of it. Hence peaceful coexistence is, for them, possible only on their terms.
The DrsC have resided in both states, and in retirement choose to reside in neither. We summer in ultra-conservative Wyoming and call it home. We winter in libertarian Nevada, where we are “winter people.”
If forced to choose between TX and CA I might choose CA. The politics in TX is more congruent with mine, and the TX cost of living is much cheaper. But in TX I miss mountains and trustworthy weather. We lived outside Dallas and there were maybe two months a year one would voluntarily spend time outdoors, one each in spring and fall.
CA earthquakes are easier to put up with than TX tornadoes and hailstorms. And we experienced as off-putting the pervasive religious flavor in TX public life which presupposes everyone is some variant of Southern Baptist.
