Descendants of Okies Coming Back Home

The Sacramento Bee takes note today that descendants of the Dust Bowl Okies (and others) are returning to Oklahoma in huge numbers.

As California housing prices went wild in the middle of this decade, hundreds of thousands of residents scratched their heads and moved to places where homes were still affordable, state and federal statistics show. When prices started falling and unemployment started rising, many continued to leave California for healthier job markets.

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From 2004 through 2007, about 275,000 Californians left the Golden State for the old Dust Bowl states of Oklahoma and Texas, twice the number that left those two states for California, recent Internal Revenue Service figures show.

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Ask these Okies-in-reverse why they traded the Golden State for the Sooner State – named for settlers who came there sooner than the Homestead Act allowed – and you'll hear a lot of similar themes: easier to find a job; cheaper to buy or rent a home; better place to make a fresh start. Ask them why they stay in Oklahoma and they'll add to that list a deep optimism that it's a place where things are about to take off.

The story focuses on Oklahoma City, and for the most part is fairly complimentary of OKC and Oklahoma. I say, "Welcome home," to all those who truly want to become productive citizens.

But like any modern exodus story, there is a dark side that must be mentioned. Just as North Carolina residents are finding newcomers from the North are demanding increased government services and trying to drive up taxes to pay for them, it will not be long before some of our California transplants will be wanting the same thing.

We are given a hint:

But the city does have its downsides, according to several of the Sacramento refugees. The weather can be random, even dangerous when tornadoes sweep through. Mass transit is woefully inadequate. There's far less ethnic or cultural diversity than in California. And Oklahoma City is seriously landlocked, a full day's drive from the nearest coastline.

The recession also is starting to bite. Oklahoma's unemployment rate has jumped in the last year to about 6 percent.

Just wait. Someone will start demanding that the State of Oklahoma spend gazillions on mass transit. Someone else will demand "safe rooms" be mandated for every home, retroactively. Unemployment benefits will disappoint some, who will demand state action.

To all these demands, let us say in advance, "No!" "No!" and "Hell, no!"

Oklahoma is a great place to live largely because we have avoided the socialist entitlement mistakes of California.

You don't like it here, try Massachusetts. Or North Carolina.