Speaking in an interview with the Washington Examiner, a conservative outlet, Christian actor and children’s book author Kirk Cameron explained that he and his family had to leave their former home of California in the rearview mirror because they no longer felt safe in the crime-wracked state, one that many allege is falling apart under the weight of its own horrible policies.
Commenting on the impetus for the move from deep blue California to ruby red Tennessee, Cameron, who was born and raised in California, explained to the Washington Examiner that he has thought about leaving for about half a decade, with the chaos and tyranny of the 2020 and 2021 riots and lockdowns particularly impressing upon him the need to move out, one which he has finally taken action on.
He then added that these problems with California, the ones that force many people to leave, namely ridiculously high levels of crime, painfully high tax rates, and rampant homelessness and homeless encampments, are the way the formerly Golden State has been headed for a long time. He said, “It’s pretty clear that California has been moving in a particular direction for a long time.”
So, like many others, he got tired of California and its seeming insistence on creating “so much division.” Desiring deeply to get away from that disastrous state of things, Cameron said that he decided to look for a place where he could move his family that has a “healthy freedom mindset.” The state he settled on is Tennessee.
Explaining what life is like in the much freer state of Tennessee, Cameron said that the Volunteer state has “a lot of California refugees.” Somewhat surprisingly, he said he has also found a good number of “creatives” who moved to the state because of how awful California is and, now that they’re there, are building up the state’s entertainment industry.
Then, getting to the worry that many red staters have about California refugees moving to red states, Cameron said he encourages those Californians he meets to not ruin the red state they moved to in order to escape the blue hellhole of California. He told the Washington Examiner, “It’s shocking how many Californians are here. And when I see them in the grocery store, I tell them, ‘Don’t California our Tennessee.’”
He also explained what makes Tennessee such a wonderful place to life, including for Californians who escaped their old state, saying, “If everything hits the fan and there’s some serious economic problems and division going on, they want to be around people like they think who are all about God, family, and country. It’s a really nice place to be.” He added that families desire to “be around like-minded people for safety and for security.”
In leaving California for Tennessee, Cameron joined other high-profile Christians who have done so, including fellow actor Candace Cameron Bure. Explaining why she felt the need to leave California behind, she said, “We didn’t feel safe anymore.” Emphasizing the importance of that factor, she said, “And that was the biggest reason that we moved.”
Watch Cameron speak about his anti-woke kids’ TV show here:
Featured image credit: By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18344403
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