- Jayne Ashton (63) is a California-born conservative politician.
- She moved to Arizona around 2017 to escape California's liberal politics.
- But she only stayed for three months before realizing there was no place like home.
This told essay is based on conversations with Jayne Ashton, a 63-year-old former police officer who moved from Homeland, California, to Benson, Arizona in 2017 to escape California's liberal politics and be closer to family. There is. She only stayed in Arizona for three months until she wanted to return to California.
Jane: I am a born and raised Californian, originally from Bloomington, San Bernardino County. I was there until my 20s.
I eventually settled in Homeland, California, where I lived for about 25 years. My ex-husband and I raised our daughter there and commuted 80 miles each way every day. I owned a house and lived on 1.5 acres. I took my daughter to school every day in a pony and cart.
California is not what people think it is. When you say you're from California, you probably think of LA, San Francisco, and San Diego. But California is very large. Even if you live in the countryside, you can live just like you would in Tennessee.
I'm a conservative and I'm always trying to keep the deficit under control in this crazy state. I am a former police dispatcher and believe that crime should be punished, but I don't think crime happens here in California.
When I first considered leaving California around 2016-2017, it was because of politics and crime. High-density housing and increased traffic across the state also played a role.
Everyone told me California was going downhill and I needed to move. I was worried that the state would tax my retirement savings, but that turned out not to be the case. But I had family in Benson, Arizona, about an hour east of Tuscon.
So I sold my house and moved. I felt like I needed to do that, too, because it seemed like a mass ejection at the time. It was like a sheep running away.
We chose Arizona because it was only a six-hour drive from California. However, even as I was returning home, I realized that it was a big mistake.
Benson, Arizona is in the middle of nowhere.
There's nothing there but Walmart, Ace Hardware, and Safeway. And there's only so much you can buy at Walmart.
I'm a vegetarian. I hadn't eaten meat since 1969, but I was starving in Arizona. I had to drive an hour to Tucson to go to Whole Foods to get the food I always had. People will say, “You're a weirdo. You should eat meat.” In California, you can find vegetarian places all day long.
I had some money from selling my house, so at first I thought I'd buy a house in Arizona. However, the house I considered failed inspection, but thankfully never got inspected.
This state has been good to me politically. Many people had the same beliefs as me. But I don't work in politics every day, and neither did they. It's in the back of my mind, but it's not the driving force for me.
People would always say to me, “Oh, you're a Californian? Well, I hope you don't bring your beliefs here.'' There were always derogatory comments. They wanted to bitch about California. They don't want us there.
I'm also religious, so I missed church. I just wasn't happy. A dark cloud was gathering over me. I missed California every day. I stayed in Arizona for only three months and returned home.
If you were born and raised in California, you need to be in California.
It's similar to the Beach Boy song “California Girls.” It's an instilled trait. Californians don't necessarily love other Californians, but we love California.
I ended up buying a house in Hemet, Riverside County. It was all boarded up. There was no electricity either. It was terrible. But I was happy to be home. I would rather live in some shitty part of California than live outside of California ever again.
I ended up living there for five years. I made some repairs to the house and sold it for a profit. Then I got out of there and came to Tehachapi, where I had wanted to live since 1999.
Tehachapi is a lost treasure. This is one of the last conservative strongholds in Southern California. It could be anything from moose to deer to foxes. That's beautiful.
California is known for being very liberal. But if you were born in a place like Tehachapi or Clovis, you're a far cry from someone who grew up in LA. That's a very different way of thinking. We're rural western cowboys and bulls type people.
It doesn't necessarily bother me that other people in this country think of California as just Los Angeles or San Francisco. I know what I believe and what I stand for. People shouldn't judge California by its big cities.
I love this state's beauty and stable climate. You can go to the beach in an hour, you can go to the mountains in an hour, you can go to the desert in an hour. You can't beat the terrain.
I never want to leave California again.
