A thread by a man named Hari Reghavan has gone viral. He details the reasons he’s moving out of the Bay Area to Miami, among them being crime and an environment hostile to small businesses. He’s right on just about everything, but in one tweet, he points out that he’s moving to Florida despite the “worse politics,” which caught the attention of Christina Pushaw and a lot of other people.
Anyway, hang on for a bit:
So, here we go. I’m moving out of the Bay Area.
This is obviously not a fresh opinion; but the framing may be slightly controversial. My biggest reason is that I believe the Bay Area is no longer the best crucible for the American Dream. 🧵 https://t.co/00BwcbJSPS
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
This is not a “fuck SF” post. This is a saddened recap of what could have been. I’ve had a tremendous time here, which had nothing to do with “tech” or “startups”. It had to do with my family, the people, the food, the culture, the debates, the nature.
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
This is broadly stemming from the fact that we traded definitions of “equity”. From “let’s create opportunity for everyone” to “if everyone can’t have it, no one can have it.” We’ve adopted the socioeconomic philosophy of a grade-school bully. And as a result:
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
1. It’s hard to feel safe. We’ve experienced 4 home breakins; 1 car breakin; other thefts and near-assaults. I desperately want this fixed but it’s *not possible* for a private citizen to. Which brings us to… https://t.co/Cg2yJTRMXK
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
Don’t expect any sympathy from fellow Californian Seth Rogan; that just called “living in a big city.”
2. The political animus. There is a social contract between a govt + citizens. We pay taxes / abide by the law, and the govt provides social services and governs by the will of its people. SFBay has broken this social contract, over and over and over. https://t.co/CpNy5oPhK7
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
3. Environment is hostile to small biz.
You can’t pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have to wet sign, snail mail 2 forms, pay 7x the cost of straps in filing fees, wait months to find out that your “lace permit” has been declined. https://t.co/x1oeSDVScx
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
4. Privilege and success, instead of something to be mindful, have become something to be ashamed of. I have thought for a long time that Atlas Shrugged is an unrealistic straw man full of contradictions. I never thought I’d live in a society that actually approximated it. https://t.co/AxUy0zlg9H
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
5. While uncertainty on the upslope can be an excellent crucible for opportunity, a shining city devolving into bureacracy is the opposite: a symbol of decline.
I think it’s more inconvenient to live in San Francisco or Oakland than when I lived in Chennai or Bombay growing up.
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
6. I consider paying taxes a privilege and honor, but you have to agree with the philosophy of where it’s being spent.
In the US, every state is undertaking its own experiment.
The CA experiment was audacious. But when experiments failed, we didn’t pull the plug… we kept going
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
7. Virtue signaling over virtue seeking; neuroticism over optimism.
A well-intentioned person can step one foot out of line and is instantly met with a “how dare you.”
When did we stop being optimistic, and so steeped in our own neuroticism?
When did we trade hope for guilt?
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
8. Merit, achievement, and success are becoming a lost cause. https://t.co/9vrl9Mpjz1
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
In summary: the Bay Area, instead of harvesting the golden eggs, bled the magical goose dry.
Instead of taking that boundless spirit of optimism, tax windfall, abundance of resources, and channeling it into the greatest city-state the world has ever known… we fucked it up.
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
Then the pandemic arrived. As everything went online, the mirage was stripped away.
Ideas now stream over the web as freely as movies. And so, the idea of living somwhere for purely professional reasons feels as quaint and nostalgic as my DVD shelf.
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
I admire the people who are fighting to fix things. This city and the surrounding region still brim with potential. But that’s not me. I’ve always been a midwesterner, and always felt like a transplant on the west coast.
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
This is such a cliché, but we’re moving to Miami.
I know there’s plenty to be apprehensive about. Worse politics (from our perspective), its own superficiality, weather issues, critters, guns… but lots to love about food, warmth, service industry, vibrancy.
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
I’m sure we’ll find plenty to complain about (or maybe not, because hopefully we’ll become less neurotic 😉). But we’re eager for a new chapter, and mint a new identity for ourselves.
Here’s to the newest corner of the world where upstarts are gathering.
— Hari Raghavan (@haridigresses) December 28, 2021
What was that? “Worse politics (from our perspective)”? You just described every reason Florida has better politics than California.
Incredible virtue signaling. You’re fleeing California to live in a conservative state because the policies here are better. If you truly thought Florida’s politics are bad for you and your family, you could move to Denver, Seattle, Portland, or any other Democrat-run area. https://t.co/C6DesuWmkG
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) December 28, 2021
How? How! How do you write everything you just did and conclude that FL has *worse* politics than SF? Clearly that’s not true, or you wouldn’t be moving there. Florida Dems will do the same thing to Miami that CA Dems did to SF. My goodness
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) December 28, 2021
Wait so you’re moving out of San Francisco to Miami because liberal politics destroyed that city… and the first thing you do is complain about conservative politics in Florida. https://t.co/1x8Dk6edl8
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) December 28, 2021
Imagine seeing the failure of progressivism in real time and then saying the Florida has "worse" politics.
Makes one wonder if this person even knows what "politics" means. https://t.co/43QU8l1UFm
— RBe (@RBPundit) December 28, 2021
Florida: STAY AWAY, MOOCHER. https://t.co/PUay2xCq7c
— Taxpayer1234 #DoNotComply (@Taxpayers1234) December 28, 2021
Red states must impose a $150,000 relocation tax on registered Democrats. It’s the only way. https://t.co/gegF1FVvjz
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) December 28, 2021
My favorite is like 10 tweets about how crime is utterly out of control in gun controlled Frisco and then complaining because in Florida – where this does not happen – normal people are able to defend themselves with guns. https://t.co/5fIQe817ra
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) December 28, 2021
Hi Hari. The disconnect on equity & opportunity you have a problem with is the default Democrat position & they believe the American Dream is dead. Might want to consider you don’t quite fit with them anymore. https://t.co/Au7cPyOyiz
— Stacey – Gen X – The Sleeper Generation (@ScotsFyre) December 28, 2021
Leave your crappy dem voting in CA or Florida will wind up the same type dystopian nightmare you're moving away from. https://t.co/poKqqVjvtB
— Joe (@JoeC1776) December 28, 2021
This is the strongest proof of the locust theory of leftism that I have seen in a long-time.
Go to a glorious place —> impoverish it and make it unlivable —> leave because it is unlivable —> bring same leftist politics somewhere else. https://t.co/CxmEEEOKMU
— William (@SouthernSummr) December 28, 2021
Carpetbaggers like this are the real virus https://t.co/5s5dpvif47
— Dan Lyman (@realdanlyman) December 28, 2021
maybe you should wait till you've moved there before you start bitching about ithttps://t.co/QDoSZkFunl
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) December 28, 2021
After you move, you shouldn't be allowed to vote in local elections for 10 years. Force yourself to become part of the community. https://t.co/IxNZzuI6EP
— Apex🌲🏴☠️ (@apex_simmaps) December 28, 2021
I am once again asking for an immigration moratorium on blue Americans to red states https://t.co/5yolxild2r
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) December 28, 2021
Florida needs to follow the example of Texas and build its own wall.
So you’re pretty much going to take the same shitty politics that made your home shitty and make the new place shitty because you can’t bear to admit you’re wrong. Your thread does that, but your vote won’t.
Stay in Frisco. https://t.co/5fIQe817ra
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) December 28, 2021
Florida needs strict immigration controls. People who speak like this about a place they plan to move to should be barred. This is why ancient cities had walls with guarded gates. https://t.co/jWuB8lNcM1
— Dr. Benjamin Braddock (@GraduatedBen) December 28, 2021
If you move from somewhere because it’s existing politics have turned it into a nightmare, have a little self awareness and wait a few election cycles before voting locally.
Admit that maybe the places you are moving are better *because* of their politics, not in spite of them. https://t.co/GtO5hvKHBV
— Happy Holistic Homestead (@Happyholistichs) December 28, 2021
It's odd. You rarely see a conservative tweeting "I'm fleeing a red state for a blue state, even though I don't like the politics of the blue state to which I am moving." https://t.co/smIvOMdpMR
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) December 28, 2021
If you think that Miami has worse politics than San Francisco, then stay in San Francisco. https://t.co/Lw7CQi3xEX
— American Nordau (@MaxNordau) December 28, 2021
This dude starts thread explaining how San Francisco is a dystopian trash heap he needs to escape from, then admits he’s moving to Miami – a much better city – then (in same breath) talks trash about politics that lured him here.
If you’re voting blue, stay in California bro. https://t.co/2lmi7ypFV4
— Michael Mella 🐊 (@pico87mn) December 28, 2021
So he's escaping from the hell hole he helped to create by voting San Francisco into a dump, and now he's going to move to Miami and keep voting that way? These people are a pox on society https://t.co/cCs9MIR85h
— Joe, son of James (@LakesFirearmsTr) December 28, 2021
“Worse politics.”
As a new Miami resident, please don’t come. Thanks.
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) December 28, 2021
Maybe a taste of freedom will change his mind about Florida’s politics.
Related:
'Experts' warn of using the term 'looting' to describe the 'looting' going on in California https://t.co/6eppMw7wuu
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 23, 2021
