Spot on. I've lived in a lot of US states, and none of them was as unequal and awful as the bay area. Absolute neoliberal hellscape with extreme wealth right next to extreme poverty and crushing rents.

You drive through some areas, and it feels like a snow crash corporate fiefdom, google owns this borough, facebook that one, pharma companies this one.

Howdy neighbor lol.

Also yes fuck this place but also communist California would be so rad. Give all the land back to the local tribes and just vibe in one of the most beautiful places on earth eatin fry bread and shit.

I have a weird freak libertarian coworker that unironically calls it commiefornia because gun control lmao. I hate him so much. He's also of course a transphobic chud POS.

The average American conservative loses their mind even attempting to imagine other countries. California is the furthest left place they can conceive of without it being completely alien to them. All other countries to conservatives are hellish Mad Max wastelands or cartoonish totalitarian 1984 style police states.

Describe what life is like for the average Belgian person and American chuds will regard it as hellish dystopia. They think notoriously right-wing Poland is socialist. I've described how the transportation network in Japan works to a conservative and he was quick to describe it all as communism, even though all the rail networks are private. The only life worth living that an American chud can conceive in their peanut brains is a white suburb in Scottsdale, Arizona where you drive a lifted F150. The truck is never used to haul anything. And while you do live in your house, the main use is waiting until you pay off the mortgage so you can rent it or sell it. That's the entire point of life for these people. How easy is it to become a landlord or a used car lot dealer. Any country that restricts those two things, or has a different sort of market, is indistinguishable from total hell. Freedom is: car, suburb, landlording, white neighborhood, ornamental firearms, and a domestic housewife.

They are working with the "everything I don't like is Communism" definition of communist.

It is very rare that any US liberal has a real understanding of what communism actually is. The enduring legacy of the red scare has ensured that they know it is "bad", and that is all they need to know. Accusing a USian of being a communist is the fastest way to guarantee they sprint right as fast as they possibly can; better for them to be labelled a fascist than a communist.

Believe me, I too wish there was anywhere in the US that was any real flavour of socialist.

They don’t know what communism is and they don’t care to know. They’ll powerfully reject even reading the shortest of books to get educated.

Uncritical support for the People's Republic of California 💪

I would love to live in the world conservatives seem to think we live in

I'm moving to California soon from Europe. Would be so lovely to live in that fantasy, I agree. Stay strong comrade.

I have a pretty unpopular trake on this state among MLs anyways lol. I think it's really important with California to remember that most of the problems in CA are pretty much problems in all of the US. Horrific anti homeless policies, selling out to business and developers, racist cops, unaffordable housing, are problems in most of the US.

Also note I live in a lower middle income neighbourhood of proletarian people of colour, mostly Hispanic and Black factory workers, landscapers, and construction workers. I don't live in the rich bay area.

At the same time there are material benefits to living here and a lot of the conservative out of state talking points are to obscure that.

1. Is demographics. I can't stand too many white people concentrated together. I can't eat at Applebee's every day.
2. Is working conditions. Most the US doesn't have overtime after 8 hrs, lunches, or anti discrimination laws. Wages are way higher.
3. The state medical insurance is actually really good it's just means tested really low, so it's unavailable to most people.
4. Quality of life, public spaces, things like hiking and stuff are accessible.

That all makes it like materially better than a lot of the US, tho with the problems it has, it still ISN'T GOOD, and it's not likely to get better either. That being said I've lived in a lot of states and have friends all over the US and I do think it's important to remember you'll have all the same problems in Texas with none of the good things, and I do value my community with eloteros and fruit carts more than like, racist pickup truck neighbours.