This is the end of Saga 4. The United States is now in the rearview mirror. I've left my home country behind and I have no idea when I will return. I'm heading south down the Baja Peninsula and I'm kind of in a rush.
Before I left, Crazy ol' Charlie, a bunk-a-biker in The Borderlands, he worked with me to change my sprockets, chain, and spark plugs. When he saw my back brakes needed replacing, things got a little complicated. Logistically speaking, there are a number of things that had to be done in a meticulous order to make the crossing safe, efficient, and road-ready.
Here are my goals before crossing:
-It's Sunday.
-I need new back brakes before crossing.
-I cannot buy back brakes on Sunday, so I'll have to buy them first thing Monday because the stores to buy parts are closed.
-I need to 'import' my vehicle with the border authorities in Mexico in order to cross the ferry at the bottom of the Baja Peninsula. This takes valuable time.
-My goal is to arrive in San Felipe, a couple hundred miles from the border, but I'd like to get there before dark.
How do I do this?
SUNDAY:
-Go to the border and import the vehicle.
-Go through the process of getting my 180-day tourist visa stamp
-Pay for the import
-Pay for the hold on the vehicle.
-Go to an ATM and get cash
-Return back to states by passing through a gateway of the most guarded peacetime border on Earth.
MONDAY:
-Drive 45 minutes one direction to get to a motorcycle parts shop as they open.
-Buy back and front brakes. Back to replace, front to hold onto for later.
-Return to Charlie's.
-Have Back Brakes replaced.
-Leave as soon as they're replaced so that I can cross without issue and start heading south to San Felipe to get there before dark.
And I did it! I did all of this without issue. It's that kind of flexible thinking, forethought, and planning that keeps things smooth.
As I leave it behind, I'll note that California was very good to me. It was a hell of an experience, and I ran into good people there like I did everywhere else. As I've said, the world is full of them, no matter where you go.
I wrote some notes on California but I'm not sure where to put them or how to incorporate them. I saw California from North to South. I saw the pine trees get replaced by palms. I kind of mashed notes on all of it together below. Who cares. Here are some notes on California:
The Cali Exodus
I've travelled across Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Colorado in the last year. A lot of Californians are moving there. This is also the case in Nevada and Texas. The cost of living in California has raised so high that people are getting priced out. That, AND they have the ability to get a California paycheck and work from home in another state and they'll make that much more money.
There's a lot of reasons for the Cali exodus. From 2020 to 2021, the state of California almost had a net loss of 200,000 people. They had a legitimate population decline between those years. They even LOST an electoral vote during this decade's redistricting. That's a big deal for America's biggest economy. So here, I'd like to write about what I've noticed, what I know, and what some proposed solutions would be to some of California's biggest problems.
Cali Homeless are Numerous
Even the most liberal of folks I've met here know it for a fact- there are homeless everywhere when it comes to the big cities in California. San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles- and those are just the big 3- they're full of them. No one here is in denial and there is no illusion. The CAUSES for homelessness are numerous: high income disparity, a lack of a public healthcare option, a lack of public mental health institutions, addiction-- they're all correct places to point the finger.
The homeless of the US end up in California for many reasons.
For some it's the weather.
For others, it's sometimes because mental health patients are just shipped here on busses from hospitals around the nation. "Not their problem", they can't make money off of them, they visit their ER's constantly-- providers will just pay for a bus ticket and make them someone else's problem.
The biggest reason, however, is California has government programs in place to help them-- or at least they try.
California has a lot of social safety nets because it prioritizes them. Cali boasts such a big state budget it can afford those AND all of it's numerous street signs. They also pay more into the Federal budget than other states. This means that other more poorer, conservative states that poke at California's problems can only keep the lights on because California is paying for them.
Many of these issues just can't be tackled at a state level. You can't fight a nationwide homelessness problem with one state tax revenue pool and you can't do it only within the borders of one state, no matter how big. Some of it just isn't on California, but that doesn't mean they couldn't do a better job.
Drunk on Incumbency
You're going to hear it a lot on conservative media outlets- they'll say "The reason California has the problems that it does is because it's ran by Democrats." I'll admit, there's a kurnel of truth to this but it's not because they're Democrats-- it's because DEMOCRATS HAVE NO COMPETITION.
That's not just a California problem. On the flip side, many other conservative states also have issues that aren't being solved because Republicans there have no competition as well.
When any politician has no competition for their job, they have less incentive to make things better for their voters. Many people get into office for one reason or another. The reasons to STAY in office can be completely different.
Let's say the people of California are plagued by high housing costs, crime, or homelessness.
If the California's state Democratic establishment doesn't have any real GOP threat to their seats, they may not tackle it at all because they know they'll pass the November election-day test and keep their seat for another term.
Solutions to Serial Incumbency
The people of California have a couple options when it comes to tackling politicians that are all cozy in their seats. The biggest of which is 'primaries'.
Primaries
Primaries are those OTHER elections that people barely take a part in. There are sometimes entire demographics of people that vote in single-digit percentages in primaries. The numbers are dismal, but that's how politicians are threatened within their party. If someone isn't working for you, get them out with someone better.
Ranked-Choice Voting
There are now 2* states that have Ranked-choice voting, Alaska and Maine. (3* now, Nevada passed it in 2022) In these states, even for president, you can choose which people you like best, then second best, then third best in a "ranking" system. If your first choice doesn't get enough votes and loses, your 2nd choice then counts. This opens the door to third parties and more competition. We have many many cities across the nation that also employ this in their city council and mayoral races.
This voting-style type also cuts down on campaign animosity. People won't be as nasty to each other if it means they can get 2nd place to an opponent. If they say harsh things about their opponent, they may not get 'ranked' on their ballot, so it incentivizes candidates to play nice.
The downside is the counting takes a lot longer so typically people won't know who won on election night. While that may not be good for TV, it doesn't matter since most folks who win on election night aren't elected to office for 2 months or more from that day.
We Love Punishment
But what about the money?
After speaking with many Californians on the issues they have at hand, many agree that more could be done. In a state with an economy as large as California's, I argue they CAN afford to help everyone. It's just not a as high of a priority.
Some of it is our obsession with punishment - that needs to change.
One thing I know about American culture is we love watching 'bad guys' get their due. There's some kind of moral flex we do when we see it. "Stupid games win you stupid prizes!" people will say online when they see a criminal hurt themselves when breaking into a building.
I feel like, as a culture, Americans don't want to tackle the root causes of crime. We just want to feel superior to criminals and feel safe at the same time. This doesn't solve anything and it hurts us in the long run. Criminals will continue to be made and get caught, but it's the MAKING of the criminals that we should be tackling.
Reformed criminals, in other parts of the world, end up contributing to their societies. They end up with jobs and starting businesses. They're paying taxes. There just ends up being LESS CRIME. It costs less as well, because we have a reformed criminal out there paying taxes instead of our taxes going to their prison costs.
But here, when we punish criminals even after they do their time-- say, keep them from getting jobs because of a felony on their record. Or keep them from voting. Or make them pay for their own regular drug tests.
When they cannot get back into society after they're released? Guess what they're gunna do. Criminals gunna criminate.
Refocusing the justice system from punishment to rehabilitation is key and there are many ways to do it. I could go even further into these solutions, and there are many, but that paradigm shift in how we see crime is how improvements can begin:
Don't think: "They're just born that way" or "People are born criminals."
We need to say: "What forces pushed them to do this?"
This is essential.
That's not to say there are people beyond saving. Some are. Some people cannot be rehabilitated. But to not give anyone a second chance means we all suffer a little bit more. We have a few less tax-paying citizens, a few more criminals that have no shot at getting back on their feet, and a lot more societal agony.
That's it!
I don't know what else to post on California. I'm already well into Saga 5 as I write this. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with things when so much is happening. That's a good thing!
Everything is going to change, now. Things will get more challenging. As societies and cultures, Canada and the United States are more alike than they are different. You can drink from the faucet, traffic is more predictable, English is widely spoken, services are more available, and credit cards are accepted everywhere.
I'm moving into a world that is very much not like my own. I will stand out simply by how I look. Services will be harder to come by so more planning will be needed. I'll have to fail my way upward in Spanish as I try to get the language back. The roads will be in worse shape, it will take longer to get around, and I'll have to do my best to not be caught in towns too late after dark.
Saga 5 is in The United States of Mexico starting in the borderlands in Tecate.
JT
-11/16/2022