California’s Choice
California’s decline was not destiny but the product of political choices that turned America’s greatest success story into a cautionary tale.
By Stephen Soukup
June 8, 2026
Fans of outlaw country music will recall an old song called “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues,” which appeared on Waylon Jennings’s 1973 album Lonesome, On’ry, and Mean. Grok tells me that the original version of the song—a folk-pop version, written and performed by Danny O’Keefe and released the year before—was the “hit” version, but I’d be willing to bet that Waylon’s take is better remembered today.
In any case, the song, which is about loneliness, regret, fading youth, and feeling left behind, starts with the lyrics. “Everybody’s gone away / Said they’re movin’ to L.A. / Ain’t a soul I know around/everybody’s leaving town.”
That’s what people did back then—53 years ago—when things were going poorly in their hometown or their home state or wherever. They moved to L.A. “Find the sunshine/Leave the rain.” In America—“the land of opportunity”—California was the pinnacle of that maxim. It was “opportunity” beyond compare.
And it wasn’t just in 1973. The American move to California is the demographic story of the 20th century. California’s population rose from under two million in 1900 to 10 million by 1950. It then more than tripled in the second half of the century, reaching 34 million by 2000. The most explosive growth came in the 1940s: the state grew from roughly 6.9 million in 1940 to 10.6 million in 1950, an increase of about 75 percent. In every census from 1930 to 2000, California added more residents than any other state, and by 1970 it had secured the top position in total population.
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