Book review, American Refugees: The Untold Story of the Mass Migration from Blue to Red States by Roger L. Simon

"How can you keep on moving unless you migrate too.

They tell ya to keep on moving but migrate, you must not do.

The only reason for moving and the reason why I roam.

To move to a new location and find myself a home."

How Can You Keep On Moving (Unless You Migrate Too), Agnes "Sis" Cunningham.

When Sis Cunningham wrote the folk song, "How Can You Keep on Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)," she was speaking of migrants abandoning the Dust Bowl for a new, and usually, better life in California.

But novelist and screenwriter Roger L. Simon, who now offers conservative wisdom at Epoch Times, tells us about the migration, almost a century after the Dust Bowl era began, from California and other Blue States to Red States. It's in his new book, American Refugees: The Untold Story of the Mass Migration from Blue to Red States.

Simon gets to the point in his book right away in his book. He now lives in Nashville.

Still, deep down, I had no real idea why I had chosen Tennessee, and not say, Florida or South Carolina, other than that wife and daughter favored the former. Had Tennessee, bizarre as it may sound, chosen me? Or maybe it was all random. Regardless, I had had enough of California and needed to get out.

Simon then takes us on a Nashville journey, as well a diversion to its wealthy former exurb, now a suburb, Franklin. In American Refugees, Simon does ponder whether a second American Civil War is coming. Ironically, Franklin and Nashville were the sites of two pivotal Civil War battles--both Union victories. 

Simon meets a lot of people as he familiarizes himself in Tennessee. including connecting with "Rocky Top," a Tennesse blogger who writes anonymously. Rocky Top recounts a story about two Californians who moved to a small town in the Volunteer State. "'We're from California,' she said, before adding quicky, 'But we're not bringing California values with us...in case you were wondering.'"

Simon discovers that the established Republican establishment tends to be less conservative than the new GOPers--the refugees. Those fed up with failed government in California, as well as New York and my own Illinois, have stronger faith in conservatism. 

Later in the book, Simon recalls a conversation with Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit and University of Tennessee law professor, who used to favor kiosks to greet Blue State refugees in Tennessee. It turns out, at least for now, they aren't needed. 

For now, I'd like to add, they aren't needed.

DuPage County, Illinois, like Orange County in southern California, used to be a solid Republican stronghold. Used to be. For generations, Chicagoans from heavily Democratic Chicago left for DuPage County Either those Chicagoans were part of the GOP minority in the city, or they saw the light once they put down roots in the western suburbs. Up until maybe 20 years ago, you'd see lawn signs there declaring, "If you like DuPage County, thank a Republican." But Democrats have taken over DuPage, bad schools, crime, and wokeness followed.

Tennessee needs such signs. And of course, Tennessee needs to continue to produce good, if not great governing, such as not having a state income tax. Marsha Blackburn, now a US Senator, while a member of the state legislature, played a key role in blocking its implementation, Simon notes.

There are some fish-out-of-water contrasts in American Refugees. Simon is floored over how much more friendly Tennesseans are. Although he might think a bit differently if he attended a Nashville Predators game wearing Chicago Blackhawks sweaters when the Blackhawks visit, as my wife and I did a few years ago.

If you want to immerse yourself in the political folkways and psyche of Tennessee, then Roger L. Simon's American Refugees is the book you need.

My wife and I live just north of Chicago. We are fed up with Illinois, and you probably know why. If you don't, here is why: Illinois has an income tax, in addition to high property and gasoline taxes, as well as rampant crime, and abject political corruption. Some people stay, despite the threats to themselves. Abandoning friends and family, being the biggest reason. Simon covers those who stay in Blue States,

Because of my right-of-center political views, I have fewer friends now. As for my wife, an immigrant from Latvia, moving away means leaving behind a reasonably large Latvian community in Chicago. Reasonably large, because there are few Latvian-Americans.

But I've noticed in my trips to the South that the southern United States is filled with clubs and organizations, something Simon touches on in American Refugees. Simon plays tennis, I'm a runner. I can find a new running club.

In short, we can meet new friends. And Tennessee tops our list for our next, and likely final, home,

One of my wife's Latvian friends, who lives in Michigan, is considering moving to a university town east of Nashville where her son lives. If we relocate to that city too, then there will be a Latvian community of three there. It's start.

Sports is one warm connection I still maintain with Chicago. I suspect it's a bluff, but the Chicago White Sox want a new taxpayer-funded ballpark and they have mentioned--this story will sound very familiar--that they'll move to a different city if Chicago and Illinois officials don't cough up giveaways. If the South Siders move to the South, to Nashville, as I remarked over at Da Tech Guy blog, I might be already living in Tennessee to welcome them. 

Simon concludes American Refugees with thoughts about Chicago. 

As for the refugee flow--given the recent mayoral election in Chicago, with Brandon Johnson (a former public school teacher and union organizer who tends to have more sympathy with criminals than their victims) defeating former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas (who campaigned on public safety for the bloody streets of that city), not to mention political mayhem in New York, California, San Francisco, and many other blue state redoubts--it is highly unlikely to stop.

American Refugees: The Untold Story of the Mass Migration from Blue to Red States is available on Amazon.com.