Interesting choices of words Andrew. Pretty cranky? It's not that your piece didn't have merit. I felt it actually did. I was that plunge from intellect to ignorance that was a fatal flaw. The only folks who might read past there are those who already agree. If your intent was an intellectual statement about the subject you killed it right there.

I was a west-coaster for many years; only recently escaping. I first came to Silicon Valley when it was still the agricultural capitol of the world. I know west coast culture and people pretty well and luckily few have your disdain for the rest of the country. However, too many Californians these days tend to be pissed off with their situation and are looking for someone to blame. It's because California finds itself in a real mess. Many of it's biggest businesses are fleeing the anti-business rhetoric; Amazon, Apple, Oracle, Tesla. They find themselves in that situation exactly because there are not enough "Red State America First Bigots" to counterbalance the Blue State America Last, anti-business Neo-socialists that dominate local politics.