One of the two people who run this blog lives in California and the other in Florida. Today’s New York Times had an interesting article that, along with psychoanalyzing Florida, contrasts the two states and wonders if Florida is the new California.

California used to be the capital of cultural, political and environmental crises, the place that baffled and mesmerized with its vivid goings-on. But while Florida still has a smaller population – not only than California but New York and Texas, too – its rapidly changing demographics and politics, combined with the fact that it is still so young, make for a potent mix.

“California looks like a staid old New England state at this point,” said James Kane, chief pollster for Florida Voter, a nonpartisan polling group. “In some respects people here get embarrassed, but there is a certain amount of pride that we are not like any other state.”

The fact that most of us just moved here yesterday (the saying is, “Everybody wants to be the last one to move to Florida”) and hate everybody that moved here today explains a lot of the weirdness.

After all, most Floridians are not from Florida. If you moved from Boston, Cleveland or New York, Havana or Caracas or San Juan, watching high drama in your backyard feels not so different from watching from a relaxed distance, Mr. Kane said…

“When people have lived here for a while and have roots and multiple generations, some other state will become the next Florida,” he said. “Some other place where it’s warm and there’s a lot of land and opportunity for people to make their fortune.”

Maybe Arizona, he said.

Thanks to Florida Politics for discovering this article.

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