Living Behind Enemy Lines, Tale #40: Political Refugees For Second Time

Roberta & hubby gave up this view from their land to move where, they thought, there was more freedom.

My long time Substack subscribers may have noticed that I have published a number of articles about Americans who were forced to move from Blue Jurisdictions to Red Jurisdictions in order to breathe again after years of ever increasing oppression. Roberta is in the process of escaping tyranny for the second time, from California^ to Washington to Idaho. In their late 70s, this is not an easy move for her and her husband, but they believe maintaining the rights they are guaranteed under the Bill of Rights is worth it. When they moved to the Washington Coast in 2012, the state had not yet become the Democrat cesspool it is today. Here is her story, in her own words.

ROBERTA’S STORY

Yes, moving is horrible. We're comfortable here (Washington State). We know where everything is, have a great doctor, have our routines, it's beautiful with snow-capped mountain views, two miles from fresh ocean air, and in a rain shadow of Mt. Olympus so we get very little rain.

Here we have almost no flies or mosquitoes, but there (Idaho) they will be in abundance. And, it will be the first time in 75 years that I've lived away from the coast. And then there is the shlep we've accumulated, obsolete and saved treasures that all have special niches in our hearts. All because of a communist government! How weird to be a political refugee!

ESCAPING CALIFORNIA

We were planning to build our dream home, a showcase suitable for Sunset Magazine or Architecture Digest, a passive solar home with self-cleaning windows and generating more electricity than we would use. The photo above was to be our kitchen view, located just north of the town of Gualala, California.

After spending tens of thousands of dollars on botanical studies, archaeological studies, geological studies, we finally got our building permit, then the Kalifornia Koastal Kommission* got notified and stopped our project, demanding redundant studies to the tune of $200K more, then moved the site away from the bluff (we were already 50' away, per code), and reduced the footprint, negating the entire architectural design!

The bitch, Sara Wan, who was head of the Coastal Commission, had the audacity to be flagrantly working on crossword puzzles during our testimony, and declared all of California within five miles of the ocean was "environmentally-sensitive habitat," except for her backyard in Malibu, just to rub her power into our faces!

We sold our coastal lot in disgust and found an oceanfront home in Nanaimo, but the Socialist system there induced us to sell and choose Gualala again. I have simplified things a bit in telling you our story, but in all cases, it was the Commies that pushed us out. I know this resonates with you, because you are in the same sinking boat. South Dakota may be your oasis away from this quagmire (Washington State). And so what if you have to add on or build a new home? That can be exciting in itself.

ESCAPING WASHINGTON

We are leaving Washington because of the overbearing Democrat legislature. Almost EVERY bill this legislative session (2025) either reduces our rights and/or costs us more tax money. If the legislature were an example of "government of the people, by the people, and for the people," working AGAINST the people, I could not think of a better one. My rights have eroded significantly since we moved here more than a decade ago. Now I need permission to buy a gun--to exercise a Constitutional right-- and cannot buy a common rifle or standard-size magazine-- because the legislature says I can't. If I had rental property, I could not charge fair market value for my property, or if I were a parent, I would not have the right to know what the schools are doing to my children. Who would want to live here? Is the climate and scenery worth it? At what point does the totalitarian coercion override the beauty of the area?

On the local scale, indigenous Tribes, wealthy from their "reparations" in the form of casino monopolies, the ability to decimate salmon populations with methods illegal to non-tribal citizens, then use their ill-gotten loot to buy politicians for special favors. Not only do the tribes pay no taxes, they bribe the politicians to make the rest of us pay more taxes, fund their special projects, and further erode our rights. When you put it all together, Washington is no longer a happy place.

There you go, Diane, from the heart. We LOVE the climate here, the scenery, the fresh air, and even SOME of the people. As we saw our rights being eroded, we would justify it as "but we love it here." After being unable to buy a Beretta Bobcat .22 pistol, because it's threaded barrel made it an "assault weapon" per our Communist legislature, and the local Tribal injustices reported by Jeff Tozzer, my husband finally agreed. This has gone too far. FYI, the Beretta Bobcat is a tiny, palm-sized pistol, hardly powerful enough to kill anything larger than a squirrel and affectionately known as a "mouse gun." But, because it has a threaded barrel and can accommodate a hearing-saver suppressor, the Ferguson-led legislature deemed it an "assault weapon" and I cannot buy one in Washington. This is an egregious assault on our 2nd Amendment rights, yet it has been tied up in litigation for about 5 years. I may die of old age before our rights are restored by a timid SCOTUS.

We expect to move to Idaho this summer. I have two huge gun safes that we have no idea how they'll be moved, nor do I want to let them out of my sight. What a dilemma, move them ourselves, which I cannot imagine how, or hire a moving company and follow the truck to make sure it doesn't detour. Then, at the new home, required to be on guard as the movers tell their criminal friends that we have not one, but TWO gun safes to rob. Am I being paranoid?

Just FYI, I am not some kind of gun nut, but I strongly value my Constitutional rights. This is why we left Kalifornia. As soon as they started denying our 2A rights, I started a firearm collection. Buy it now, while we still can.^^ And look at our country now: Did the January 6th protesters have their 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th Amendment rights respected? I am appalled that those people were jailed for so long, under dire conditions, while SCOTUS was masturbating under their robes, utterly silent. My husband and I, half jokingly, ask each other, where do we move next? Hungary? Greenland? Iceland? I sincerely hope that President Trump reverses our loss of rights and has the opportunity to replace one of the liberal justices with a hard-core Constitutionalist, like we thought Amy Coney Barrett was.

DIANE’S QUESTION TO ROBERTA

If you live long enough, Roberta, you may see freedoms in Idaho trampled, as well. After all, Liberals have been moving from COW to Idaho these last two decades, escaping the nests their policies fouled. Unfortunately, Liberals’ superiority complexes require them to “take over” their new neighborhoods, in one way or another. Northern Idaho, for example, has experienced significant changes in some communities because so many ex-Californians have moved there. Will you have the energy to move a THIRD time?

^”We moved from CA to Lake Havasu City, AZ in 2010, but a hot spell of 10 days at 122°F followed by 3 days at 126°F pushed us to WA in 2012.”

*These are the dictators who have way too much power regarding you building or remodeling on YOUR property. Indeed, right now the California Kommies are preventing the victims from rebuilding after the Democrat-produced fires in Los Angeles in January.

^^Roberta and I have never met, yet, we have the same attitude about our Second Amendment Rights. My hubby and I never owned a gun until VP Al Gore, in the 1990s, was working hard to destroy these rights. In 1999 I bought my first handgun and got a concealed carry permit. Now, we own two S&W 38s.