Washington State once enjoyed status as a top 10 destination for retirees. It was the lack of income tax and one of the most favorable "blue states" for taxation in the country. But Washington's ten year transformation into a cool and wet version of California is nearly complete. Taxes have risen sharply and the government has managed to virtually fail at nearly all of its core responsibilities. Our highways once among the best in the country are now a crumbling mess. California sent us tens of thousands of hard line leftists that began voting for the same type of people that ruined California. And now enough of them reside in our state to control the policy.
This is not a political blog, so I do not intend to push an agenda other than avoiding a permanent one party state. Policy affects all of us whether we are liberal or conservative. Liberals in California have been chased out of their home state by and large because of bad policy that they voted for. It's not that liberal policies are bad, it's that radical policy left or right is bad. Washington went from a classic "Iowa Style Democrat State" to a "California Style Democrat State" and it has nearly destroyed us. The problem in Washington is that the state Republican Party can't nominate a winning candidate. They tend to push hard line right wingers that have no chance in a blue state.
Things will always get bad when you have one party control. California has had one party control for so long that corruption and lack of accountability has run them into the ground. Washington seems to be following them over the precipice. I am not saying that Washington needs to elect more Republicans, I am saying Washington needs to elect more "Iowa style Democrats" like they used to. These were sensible people that believed in strong unions, well funded eduction and transportation, and dedicated to public safety. But today's Washington Democrats are not that. They will take funding away from those basic needs and divert it into fringe programs that the vast majority of polling shows as unpopular even among Democrats.
They feel invincible in Olympia and that always leads to corrupt behavior. This is why Washington State has fallen from most of those top ten best places list. Until the voters wake up and vote for sensible liberals or sensible moderate conservatives, this ship cannot be righted.
So am I declaring Washington as no good for retiring? NO, I am not. Washington is still in the top half of the best states to retire, the sheen is just off the finish a bit. If the Republican Party in Washington State can put forth moderates to take some seats in moderate counties, they could restore the balance of power. You see for the better part of two decades the house and senate in the state had a near balanced slightly tilted towards Democrats. The ratio of Democrat to Republican was typically 52/48, 54/46, 53/47. But the last few years have seen Washington move closer to California with a supermajority of Democrats in both houses. It's about 60/40 now. California is 70/30 and look at the mess they have down there. Again this is not an anti Democrat rant, it's an anti one-party rant. When politicians have that kind of control, they will invariably abuse their power, and we are definitely seeing that in Washington State today. Republicans in Washington tend to nominate aggressive right wingers that can't win on the west side of the state. Believe it or not, Democrats are quite vulnerable in Washington outside of King County, but the Republicans can't bring themselves to run moderates with a chance and that is why we are spiraling towards permanent one party control and that fate has already been foreseen, just look south to California.
In closing, Washington remains a solid choice for retirees if you have a connection to the Northwest, family, employment and such. If you lean to the right, it will be unpleasant for you, if you are hard to the right it will be unbearable. If you lean left you will like it especially on the west side of the state and if you are hard to the left definitely stay west, avoid the eastern half of the state ;)
