Trego's Mountain Ear

I was behind a pair of refugee Californians.  The car was a four wheel drive Subaru, and it was wearing Montana plates – but there was something about the driving style that shouted “California.”  And there are more than a few reasons to be kind to the refugees from what was once “the golden state.”

Californians aren’t the worst drivers when it comes to snow and ice.  I’m pretty sure that title rests with Texas.  It might be Mississippi or Louisiana -but there are just so many Californians and Texans that we notice them more.  It’s not a long-term problem – most will learn the skills needed for Montana winters in a couple, three or four years.  But think of what they have left behind.

Our refugee Californians tend to be conservative – more so than our Montana natives.  They have left what seems to be the nation’s finest climate behind as they moved from the golden state to the treasure state.  Historically, quite a few of our greatest Montanans have done a tour or two in California before coming to Montana.

Let’s look at what they have left:  California has half of the nation’s homeless people.  I suppose that has some relationship to the state being 49th in home ownership.  California has a third of the nation’s welfare recipients, despite having just an eighth of the population.  Obviously, while California has 14.2% of the US Gross Domestic Product, it isn’t spread around evenly.  The state is somewhere around dead last in literacy, despite having schools as highly regarded as Cal Tech and Stanford.  It leads the nation in cost-adjusted poverty.  Roger Simon writes a substack called  American Refugees and covers his move from California to Tennessee.  He mentioned Mama Cass and the notes from California Dreaming came through my mind.

California ranks 50th in the category of opportunity.  Frighteningly enough, it ranks 42nd under fiscal stability -so we know that, despite California’s projected $68 billion budget deficit, some states are in worse shape.

I’ve known Jews who left Europe when they read the writing – I was going to say on the wall, but Adolf published Mein Kampf – all they had to do was read the guy’s game plan.  I’ve met damned few who stayed in Germany.   It’s hard to leave a spot that is imprinted on your heart – but I remember a conversation with Willi, where he explained that “You Americans don’t realize that you need to be ready to leave.”  Willi had been on the last ship out of Germany, taking all he owned with him in a small bag of diamonds and precious stones.  By the time he got to the US, we weren’t accepting Jewish refugees – fortunately the ship managed to dock at Trinidad.  I think we need to be accepting of our California refugees.

Los Angeles reported the following retirement levels for its public employees:

• All retirees – pension $65,027, benefits $13,471, total $78,497
• Sheriffs – pension $88,144, benefits $18,395, total $106,539
• Firefighters – pension $104,905, benefits $20,350, total $125,256
• All other retirees – pension $50,484, benefits $10,581, total $61,065

I suspect we’re not going to have to worry about our refugee Californians becoming wards of the state – though we might find a reason for Montana property evaluations going up in those figures.

At any rate, I followed the Californians in their Subaru on our first snow day and marveled at their trepidation on roads that were, to me, essentially bare and dry.  A week and a half later, I spun out on a patch of ice – I really should have dropped the Suzuki in four wheel, but it was a short stretch of shaded road.  My pompous superiority in driving skills took a bit of a hit as I stood alongside my error, waiting for my neighbor Brian to come by with a tow rope.  Perhaps I am not always as superior as I might like to believe.