Why are we still here?

[Swift River Rob]

Mass from 1960 to 2000 has grown in population by ~23% (5.15 Million to 6.35 million). In the same time period the USA has grown by 59%, more than double the growth rate on Mass. Had Mass attracted as many people and shown the same growth as the rest of the country our population should be around 8.2 Million, not the 6.35 million we are. One could conclude we have actually lost 1.85 Million people (8.2-6.35).

Apparently many of the hundreds of thousands of college students that have been educated here over that time left our state for green pastures.

Boston, Menino’s utopian city had in 1950 801K citizens, in 2005 559K, a loss of 227K, or ~30%.

What the hell are we doing here? Is it time to get out, or have we missed the boat.

 

[JellyFish]

I am now looking for an apartment in New Hampshire though I am not sure if I will be able to find something in time to get out before Deval takes office.

Why are we still here? I grew up here and have lived here almost all my life. It has been home. It is sad to think of leaving it and even more sad to think of being chased out by the a**h***s running the state.

Yes, we probably have stayed too long. We are financing those who discriminate against us and who want to take away our rights in the name of public safety...as if we are the problem as opposed to the criminals.

There is no political solution on the horizon that I can see happening. Healey is circling the bowl and she will be flushed on November 7. Once the republicans are out of the state house, the dems will have everything in place to really come after us.

How will we stop them? We do have some allies in the legislature but is that enough to stop Deval and his allies? I doubt it. He will use the governor's office as a platform to attempt to destroy what is left of our rights and he won't give a damn what we say as we are a minority here now. And an ever-shrinking minority too it seems.

I don't know what else to say...I wish I could see a silver lining somewhere but I don't. If there is one perhaps it will be that Deval over-reaches and there is a backlash. Then again there was no backlash after the 1998 gun control crap was passed. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe somebody else here knows more about the legislature than I do.

As for me, I already have some books packed in a moving box and am now beginning to go through my stuff to get rid of junk I don't need for when my time to move comes. It may come next month or it may come in the spring, I do not know.

But I do not see what the point of staying here is anymore. If I do I will be financing those who steal my money through confiscatory income taxes and who take away my god-given second amendment rights. I don't want to do that anymore, I don't want to keep financing this place. Screw it.

 

[C-pher]

My wife has never lived anywhere else...I moved here because of her...

And now with all this family that we now have, it's even harder to leave...

I really don't ever see me leaving MA.... Only because even though it can suck at some times...I can't take my family away from family. I know what it was like to grow up FAR away from family, and I don't want that for my kids.

 

[matt1956]

I can't take my family away from family.

And that my friend is the #1 reason.

 

[Producer]

My kid is here. Turns eighteen in eight years. I just started the clock.

 

[Hamar]

I'd up and move this afternoon. But I would never ever live in peace in my new home. She who must be obeyed would not take kindly to being uprooted. LOL

 

[sellscottsell]

Some of us have been here for over 300 years and were not leaving for anyone. If the Devil didn't scare us in the mid 1600's, the Deval won't scare us now.......oops did I spell Devil with an "a"? I always seem to get the two mixed up!

 

[Producer]

I am a 5th generation Cape Codder, but as my wife from Texas says "None of your family has ever had the gumption to make it elsewhere."

 

[matt1956]

gump·tion (gŭmp'shən)
n. Informal.
1. Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness.
2. Guts; spunk.
3. Common sense.

I admit... I had to look it up.

Now I will make sure I use it in a sentence today

 

[sellscottsell]

She's knows that Yankees don’t need to gather the gumption to move, we’ve got all we need right here. Heck, we still eat off of silverware and pewter that’s been in our family longer than Texas has been a State.

 

[Pilgrim]

My family's been here since 1620. With Elderly parents, children and grandchildren, it would be really hard to move.

I nearly bought 20 acres of land in VT,and would have if the seller hadn't backed out at the last minute, but it would have been for a vacation/summer home. I couldn't move permanently..as much as I'd like to. Seeing family several times a week is too important.

 

[drgrant]

I'm only here still because of my house, more or less. The commute to
my job would be an issue too, as my commute is already sucky and
long. Dumping my job is possible eventually, the problem is the "deal" I
have is very good, for this industry.

I'm beginning to think though that the "price" of freedom is worth
it. The longer I live here the more annoyed/pissed off I
get. Eventually it may not be a matter of making a decision, if dingbat
starts clamping down on us more. If any more "restrictions" go into
place (or it looks reasonably certain that they will) then that's the cutoff
for me. I'll just squirrel-nut-pack cash away until I can afford to leave
this place.

-Mike

 

[ignium]

My wife and I have only been back up here for a little over a year and we're already looking to move out of the state. We've been looking at properties up in Maine. My wife is willing to add another 45 minutes to her commute just to get the hell out of here.

 

[M1911]

I've lived in a number of different places. I grew up near Chicago. I went to school in Ithaca, NY and Palo Alto, CA. I've spent extended periods in Atlanta and Augusta, GA; Dallas and Houston, TX. I've also visited FL regularly.

I'm still here for several reasons. Outside of the politics, I like the place. I like the geography -- I can be in the Green Mountains in a few hours, the Cape in an hour and a half, the Vineyard in about 4 hours. I generally like the weather (could be a bit warmer for my taste, but it's not too bad).

As a foodie, I like all the wonderful ingredients I can get from the local farmstand, apple orchard, butcher shop, cheese shop, etc., that I would miss living out in the boonies. I have a great job now at a university in Cambridge (in 5 more years, I'll be eligible for a pension!) -- commuting from NH or RI would be a nightmare.

I've got a lot of friends here, many from the various gun clubs that I belong to.

And most importantly, my wife would not want to move.

 

[Jaxon]

And that my friend is the #1 reason.

+1. While my family is in Ohio, I moved here because of my (second) wife. And she has a younger brother she sort of takes care of. We couldn't move and leave him here.

And I'm getting to old to find a new job (for now), so here we stay.

RJ

 

[TY43215]

My ancestors landed in Boston in 1658 when they were thrown out of Scotland (And no, it had nothing to do with sheep)

I am self employed and although what I do, I can do pretty much anywhere, I have an established business with a good customer base. I don't want to start over again.

If I left MA, I would be in the same predicament as HAMAR. SWMBO would be a little peeved, to say the least.

Some day when the kids are finally gone (Do they ever really leave?????) and the parents are no longer on this side, we may move. With that being the reasons holding us here, I hope to be here for some time.

Regards,

 

[Producer]

She's knows that Yankees don’t need to gather the gumption to move, we’ve got all we need right here. Heck, we still eat off of silverware and pewter that’s been in our family longer than Texas has been a State.

Good one, thanks!

 

[tuna]

I've got a wife who would dearly love to move out of Massachusetts. Neither one of us would mind ditching the family too much. We still love New England, and our plan is to move North, preferably New Hampshire. Problem is finding the right job. I'm faithful that when the time is right, the openings will be there, and therefore so will we.
Actually, though my wife is a diehard conservative, I think the main reason she wants to move is to stop me from ranting and raving about living in this socialist state.

 

[Dick]

Except for the few years that my career Air Force dad was relocated to places like Long Island, Texas, Kansas, and England, and a couple of years immediately after getting out of college (all of which adds up to maybe 10% of my entire life), I've lived in Massachusetts. For virtually my entire adult life I've recognized this state for what it is and what it represents and I've hated being part of it, but the multiple effect of family, friends, a series of very good jobs, and simple inertia has kept me here. Thankfully, my wife feels pretty much the same way, and we have a plan.

Through a combination of some hard work and a lot of dumb luck, I find myself in a position of relative financial security with about 4 or maybe 5 more years to work and (knock on wood) unusually good health. For the moment, an elderly mother and an elderly mother-in-law keep us tied to this place, but I expect that around the time I retire those ties will no longer exist, and then . . . we're cashin' out, and I mean outta here.

One advantage of having owned a home for a while in the People's Republic is that you can take your equity and go pretty much anywhere else in the country, reproduce that home or something better, and end up with cash in your pocket, and that's exactly what we're going to do. Every penny, and there are lots of them, that we've worked our sorry asses off to accumulate here is going to get spent somewhere else where people still understand what America and freedom are all about. The options range from the nearby (Sugar Hill, NH is very nice) to the remote (we both love Montana and Idaho), but we are gonna be gone, gone, gone. I have a number of similar-aged and similar-thinking friends who are doing exactly the same thing.

 

[propguy]

My wife has never lived anywhere else...I moved here because of her...

And now with all this family that we now have, it's even harder to leave...

I really don't ever see me leaving MA.... Only because even though it can suck at some times...I can't take my family away from family. I know what it was like to grow up FAR away from family, and I don't want that for my kids.

Bingo! Same reason here!!!!!!!!!!! Wow would I love to say c-ya!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MrsWildweasel]

Family obligations keep us here, for now. Now after we no longer have that, well then we will see.

 

[reinbeau]

And that my friend is the #1 reason.

Same here

 

[C-pher]

I'm going to have to agree with 1911 on a lot of what he said.

The things that you have around here, you can't compete with anywhere else in the country.

And yes, the FOOD is wonderful. My mom, who's a devout foodie...so much that instead of staying in the business world...she up'd and opened up her own store....loves to come up here and get things that she can't when she's home.

Not to mention some of the best breweries are in and around New England.

The only reason I would move is to live somewhere cheaper, but that would mean a change of jobs, or a transfer and it would still have to be close enough that my kids can see their cousins, aunts, and uncles more often.

My only sadness is they will never know my family like they know my wife's.

 

[FPrice]

What the hell are we doing here? Is it time to get out, or have we missed the boat.

I came here in 1991 from Washington State for a very good job. I'm retired now but my wife's and my elderly mothers are here. They do not have any other family close by. And we have kids in school who despite the criticism of public schools are both doing well. These reasons keep us here for the foreseeable future. You can't just always up and run away from bad situations. At least not without a huge loss sometimes. Is it better to stick it out or sustain that loss?

Right now I am sticking it out and doing what I can to make it better.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

I'm going to have to agree with 1911 on a lot of what he said.

The things that you have around here, you can't compete with anywhere else in the country.

And yes, the FOOD is wonderful. My mom, who's a devout foodie...so much that instead of staying in the business world...she up'd and opened up her own store....loves to come up here and get things that she can't when she's home.

Not to mention some of the best breweries are in and around New England.

The only reason I would move is to live somewhere cheaper, but that would mean a change of jobs, or a transfer and it would still have to be close enough that my kids can see their cousins, aunts, and uncles more often.

My only sadness is they will never know my family like they know my wife's.

It's a trade off C-pher. It's the same for Alan, but the closeness he has with his cousins (more like siblings all of them) is something he wouldn't have had if we had moved to the other coast. It was never even an issue as far as I was concerned. We never even considered moving back there.

 

[drgrant]

The things that you have around here, you can't compete with anywhere else in the country.

Well, thats true of just about every communist vs non communist place in the
country. That's about the only thing the commies in this country
have right... is most of their little enclaves have food that doesn't
suck. Every time I visit CA my friends are always taking me to new
restaraunts and stuff, and the food is always good.

I'd still rather be devoid of communism 90% of the time and drive into
the PRM to eat/buy stuff on occasion. At least until they start asking for
paperwork at the border.


-Mike

 

[Dick]

That's about the only thing the commies in this country
have right... is most of their little enclaves have food that doesn't
suck.

Oh, you mean stuff like this:

 

[M1911]

Nah, I'm talking about places like this:

http://www.captainmardens.com/
http://www.johndewarinc.com/
http://www.verrillfarm.com/

and lots of small places that don't have a web page, like Karl's Sausage Kitchen, Wasik's Cheese Shop, and the little apple orchard in Stow where I get unpasteurized apple cider.

 

[C-pher]

There's a place out past Worchester that we go to pick apples. They have unpasteurized apple cider as well... Man that's good stuff.


And any place with the name, "Karl's Sausage Kitchen" is someplace that I want to try. You're going to have to tell me where that one is located.

And you may laugh, but I've got Willow Tree Farms just around the corner from me. Which has by far the best Chicken Salad and Pot Pies. And you can get it at the store for 5 bucks a pound, instead of 8 bucks a pound at the grocery...and it's fresher!

 

[Dick]

Nah, I'm talking about places like this:

http://www.captainmardens.com/
http://www.johndewarinc.com/
http://www.verrillfarm.com/

and lots of small places that don't have a web page, like Karl's Sausage Kitchen, Wasik's Cheese Shop, and the little apple orchard in Stow where I get unpasteurized apple cider.

Yeah, I know those places, except for Wasik's - where's that?

Dewar's and their fresh foie gras have separated me from a lot of my discretionary income over the years. I also like Formaggio's (www.formaggio-kitchen.com) - originally Cambridge, now also South End. The Concord Cheese Shop, which was owned by one of my gun club buds until he sold out in 2003, is a lot closer to us and nearly as good. And Pekarski's out in Conway has some of the best kielbasa and Italian sausage (even though made by Poles) I've ever had. We're surrounded by those U-pick apple and cider operations out here; three of them are owned by long-time family friends (my wife's family actually, she's more native to the immediate area than I am).

We'll sure miss being so close to those places when we leave, but we're leaving anyway.

Never occurred to me that there might be some closet foodies lurking around here.