By all means, leave

Back in 2008, I wrote a piece with the line Be Good or Be Gone. Some city jerk moved from Bay City to Frankenmuth and then tried to dictate how they ran things.

The thing with leftists - especially white leftists - is that they turn their current homes into bad places to live, move out, and arrogantly bring their leftism with them to the new place they move to, demanding that the new community conform to their cult of thinking.

I stood up and cheered at this story out of Wyoming. You move there, and then complain about guns and the energy industry? That's like complaining about lakes in Michigan.

By all means, leave

CHEYENNE -- A Newcastle state lawmaker is refusing to apologize after telling a Cheyenne minister that her and her family should leave the state if she doesn't like Wyoming politics.
The electronic skirmish started Thursday after the Rev. Audette Fulbright sent emails to all legislators stating her opposition to House Bill 105, which would have allowed people with concealed carry permits to carry guns at schools, community colleges, the University of Wyoming and public sporting events.

.......
Fulbright, who lives in Cheyenne, isn’t one of Hunt’s constituents. No other lawmakers responded except for Rep. Mary Throne, D-Cheyenne. Throne told Fulbright that the bill had moved to the Senate Education Committee and to contact committee members.
Fulbright and her family moved to Cheyenne from Virginia in July. They made the cross-country venture because the state had good schools and the landscapes remained intact. Fulbright gives her sermons at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne. In her email to lawmakers she said she was shocked at the Legislature’s stance on guns this session.

Here's the letter and response. Some folks don't take kindly to Johnny Come Lately's invading and demanding how things should be. Notice the arrogant holier than thou superior tone in the letter as well.

Fulbright's email

Dear Representative,
I hope you are taking care of yourself during this busy session. I know it is a challenging, compressed time.
I am writing to express my grave concern about House Bill 105. Ample evidence has shown that schools and guns do not mix, and in particular, guns in the hands of amateurs/non-professionals is extremely dangerous, especially in any highly-charged situation. to expose our children to greater risk in their schools by encouraging more guns on campuses is something that we cannot allow.
My husband and I moved to Wyoming not too long ago. We believed it was a good place to raise children. With the recent and reactive expansion of gun laws and the profoundly serious dangers of fracking, we find we are seriously reconsidering our decision, which is wrenching to all of us. However, the safety of our family must come first. We are waiting to see what the legislature does this session. I know of other new-to-Wyoming families in similar contemplation. Your choices matter. It would be sad to see an exodus of educated, childrearing age adults from Wyoming as a result of poor lawmaking.
sincerely,
Rev. Audette Fulbright

Hunt's response

Rev. Fulbright,
I’ll be blunt. If you don’t like the political atmosphere of Wyoming, then by all means, leave. We, who have been here a very long time (I am proudly 4th generation) are quite proud of our independent heritage. I don’t expect a ‘mass exodus’ from our state just because we’re standing up for our rights. As to your comments on fracking, I would point out that you’re basing your statement on ‘dangers’ that have not been scientifically founded or proved as of yet.
It offends me to no end when liberal out-of-staters such as yourself move into Wyoming, trying to get away from where they came from, and then pompously demand that Wyoming conform to their way of thinking. We are, and will continue to be, a state which stands a head above the rest in terms of economic security. Our ability to do that is, in large part, to our ‘live and let live’ mentality when it comes to allowing economic development, and limiting government oversight. So, to conclude, if you’re so worried about what our legislature is working on, then go back home.
Sincerely,
Hans Hunt
Representative Hans Hunt
House District 02

If I cross paths with Hans Hunt, I'll buy him a beer for that response. If you don't like the culture of the state, why move there? If you move from an old place to a new place, why demand that it be changed to where you came? That's parasitic and toxic behavior. That's what is going on right now in Oakland County in its slow transition into a new Wayne County. The gold standard of Michigan is no longer the case. It also raises an alarm bell here in Livingston County.

Wyoming is sparsely populated, but fast growing due to the energy based economy growth there. This clown wants to stop that. She doesn't like guns, but goes to arguably the most pro-gun state in the country. GO HOME! If I moved to Detroit, Chicago, or Berkeley, would I demand they accommodate me? No. They are what they are. Leftist areas. I'm not from there. On the same note, I'm not going to sit by and let Detroit values, Chicago values, and Berkeley values invade here either.

Here in Michigan, the fastest growing county in SE Michigan is Livingston County. It's a contrast to Wayne County. Wayne County is democrat and urban. Livingston County is Republican and was (and somewhat still is, at least in character) rural. The tradition of the parties in both places is over 50 years. Livingston County balances its budget. Wayne County is a mess. Livingston County has low key officials who stay out of trouble. Wayne County has Ed McNamara, Bob Ficano, Kwame Kilpatrick, Jennifer Granholm, and Monica Conyers. Livingston County does its job. Wayne County government is featured in Charlie LeDuff's stories. Livingston County is growing. Wayne County is shrinking.

Our challenge here is this. We can not afford Wayne County values to come here. That does not mean we should not welcome Wayne County transplants. There's a big difference. There are a lot of Wayne County transplants who want no part of Wayne County values anymore. We need to welcome those who would like to join us. We should reject those - the flatlanders - who want to change us to Wayne County. That goes for transplants from anywhere, not just Wayne County. Livingston County is a good place to live for a reason. Part of that reason is that it is well run county with lower taxes, balanced budgets, less regulations than its neighbors, and a safe environment (especially by Michigan standards). If it becomes Wayne County and full of leftist democrats, that will no longer be the case.

We need to reject the Fulbright types who arrogantly wish to change us because we are supposedly backwards (while they leave their actual backward lands). We need to welcome those who wish to join us as we move forward and improve on what made us a great place to live to begin with.

City Jerk moves to town and pushes for censorship in that town

There's an old saying used at some old time taverns. Be good or be gone. It's a good saying for many communities. As someone who grew up in Livingston County back when it was country, I am quite sensitive to this type of story. I also hate censorship in general. Both are prominent in this story.

From the Detroit News:

FRANKENMUTH -- If this popular tourist mecca 80 miles north of Detroit wears Germany on one of its sleeves, the other contains Martin Luther.

Founded by Lutheran missionaries who vowed to retain their old ways, the community of 4,800 has one of the highest concentrations of Lutherans in the Midwest. The city seal contains a Luther rose, the symbol for Lutheranism.

So when local atheist Lloyd Clarke wanted to remove a cross from the seal, along with ones in a city park and on a state bridge, residents rose nearly as one against him.

Children taunted the 66-year-old Clarke. A letter writer accused him of trying to reduce Frankenmuth to "Satan's pit." Another said crosses were as much a part of the town as its renowned chicken dinners.

"People who like to cite the Constitution to justify their hatred and bigotry should take the time to read it," resident Judi King wrote to the local paper.

I think most people have been to Frankenmuth at some point. For those that haven't, I'll just say that the culture there is as German as South Boston is Irish. It's fairly obvious from the name of the town which was settled by Lutheran missionaries from Franconia. It is still largely German to this day. It's also most well known for Bronner's Christmas store that draws customers from all over the country. It's still a heavily religious and conservative area. It markets that. It markets its culture. You see it in the stores, building, street names, and last names of the people there. I can't explain this in a website. You have to see it to understand it. It's a great town to visit, and I don't have to be German or Lutheran to appreciate it.

Clarke said he moved from Bay City to be closer to family in Frankenmuth and a neighboring town.

He didn't notice the foot-long crosses on the bridge until he drove past them a few months ago, he said. He felt they made Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians feel unwelcome.

I've never seen a religious symbol on a bridge in all my life," he said.

Clarke has a long history of activism. A retired UAW organizer, he has belonged to anti-war groups and ran for the state Senate in 2006 as a Green Party candidate, receiving 2.5 percent of the vote.

After he objected to the bridge crosses, the city promptly removed them.

Boy, that was easy, Clarke thought. He then tried his luck with removing the cross from the city seal.

But the city balked, the churches got involved, the residents turned on Clarke, and Frankenmuth hasn't been the same since.

U.S. courts have given conflicting rulings about religious symbols on public property. But judges seem to support such emblems if they represent the history of a community, said legal scholars.

So you feel unwelcome after pushing the city around. Tough crap. Go home. Go back to Bay City, Clarke. You have only been in Frankenmuth for four years. You have not EARNED the right to push this crap around. You may have the power, but not the right. There's a German word that describe people like you who move into a town and force your views upon it. The word is Arschloch. Flatlander is another good term for people like that as well, but that's more applicable to areas like New Hampshire and Vermont which has problems with invaders of their own.

Ann Arbor is not my type of town. It's a leftist paradise with heavy regulations on its citizens. If I move there, I wouldn't push for the courts and others to change the things there, especially the core things there. It's there city, not mine. If I moved there, I'd know what to expect, and accept that it is how things are done. If I didn't accept it, US-23 is right there. I respect that.

If this was a case opression or force by government or things like that, that is one thing. This isn't it. This is just Johnny come lately imposing his one man culture war on the established community and its culture. I can't stand people like that, whether from the left (California natives are notorious for that - which came the term Californicators) or even when it is from people on the right. Be good or be gone. That doesn't mean you have to agree with all the views of the community, but respect the community to which you move. Don't bring your crap here, leave it at your old place.