Since Joe Biden took office, conditions in heavily blue states have deteriorated. Places like New York, California, Michigan, and Illinois have seen residents and businesses leave in record numbers.
The reasons are numerous. Whether it be the spiking crime, the high taxes and regulations, or simply the opportunity to live a better, more normal life in a red state, the migration is on.
Numerous companies have left California to flee high taxes, and residents have followed. Dozens of A-list celebrities have picked up and left for red states like Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Nevada. Celebs like Mark Wahlberg are raving about living in a red state, and more are likely to follow suit.
Recently, a comedy legend talked about picking up and leaving the Golden State for the mountains of Utah. Bill Engvall, of “Blue Collar Comedy Tour” fame, decided to retire from standup last year and move away from California, and reports are he is loving it.
Engvall is about to drop his farewell comedy special, and in an interview, he talked about leaving the West Coast. He said: “We were in California for 30 years and we had a good time. We had a great time. I always said, if you can’t find something to do in California, you’re not looking.”
While Engvall still speaks highly of California, he recognized it was time to go and seek a more normal life for his family. He continued: “You know, there was nothing in California that we ever went, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got to get out of here.’… I still have a fondness for California. And like I said, if work comes, it’s probably gonna come out of LA… I still go back and do TV shows, you know, talk shows and stuff like that.”
Engvall, 66, and his wife, Gail, now reside in Utah and are enjoying a lifestyle different from that in California. The comic reports that he loves fishing, hiking, and skiing in the “Beehive State.”
Having grown up in Texas, Engvall never desired to return and had some preconceived notions about Utah that proved to be off base. He continued: “I felt more at home, if that makes sense. I mean, I’m from Texas and I love Texas, but I don’t know that I could move back there… It’s got its pluses and minuses, just like every state does. But I never saw Utah on our radar at all, you know. But again, it was my probably narrow-mindedness, of judging what it was like. And then I got to realize, ‘Oh, it’s nothing like what I thought.'”
The “Last Man Standing” actor holds no ill will towards California but does admit that there were economic factors that ultimately drove him away. He also said: “I had accomplished everything I wanted to do in the business. And then also economically, I mean, the taxes were just becoming insane. And so it was a combination of a lot of things. But I don’t hate California,”
It is becoming an all-too-familiar story for many residents of California. The outrageous cost of living is driving folks to look elsewhere, and when they do, they come to the realization that life is pretty sweet in a red state.
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