The best state?

[Old Man Winter]

I recently started a similar thread in The Coterie Club section of PF. Living in a liberal utopia I'm ready for greener pastures. After checking out several places I'm not sure a person can escape political stupidity by relocating. Many states are already fu@#ed and the others are trying to get there as fast as they can. Pick somewhere that offers a high quality of life and do what you can to keep it from becoming a liberal utopia.

[Drang]

Reading with interest, as HH6 and I are looking seriously into retiring to TN, NC, or AL.
My folks live in Crossville, TN, and are very happy with local medical care, so that's the front runner, so far.

[scjbash]

I have an uncle in Lexington who enjoys his various outdoorsy pursuits, and it doesn't appear land values are quite to Louisville levels yet. I took my dad to visit him about a week back and traffic wasn't bad, either.

If WV kicked me out and my tristate area was off limits I'd likely end up outside of Lexington. The mix of rural areas, small town feel, and benefits of a successful city is excellent.

[JHC]

I am pleasantly surprised by the number of recommendations for the Huntsville, AL, area as it is our home. We live a mile away from where my wife's parents still live about twenty-five miles west of Huntsville. For those who do not know, Huntsville, AL, is the home of Redstone Arsenal and the Marshall Space Flight Center. Redstone Arsenal also hosts a large FBI and BATFE contingent as well as a chunk of the Missile Defense Agency. It is also the home of a fair amount of automobile manufacturing, including a Toyota engine plant and the under-construction Mazda-Toyota vehicle assembly plant. Employers beside fed.gov include all of the large DoD and NASA contractors as well as firms focusing on technology from VOIP to waste-water treatment. As such, it has the highest number of engineers per capita in the world. Huntsville is now the second-largest city in Alabama and is forecast to be the largest in the next twenty years.

For those with children, the Madison City Schools have one of the best schools in the state. Housing is hard to come by in the Bob Jones high school area, and pricing is high for the area -- though very affordable compared to other urban areas. Away from the city, real estate is dirt cheap. It is possible to buy a decent house on twenty acres for less than $150,000. Property taxes are under $500 per year for that house. Sales tax is high, starting around 6% in rural areas and going up to 9% in Huntsville. Nashville and Birmingham are each less than two hours away, and Atlanta is about four hours away.

While Alabama is a shall issue state, the Sheriff of Madison County, where Huntsville is located, is not friendly to CCW. Permit application approval times measure in weeks versus the minutes in Limestone County and other surrounding counties. Permit fees are $15 per year with a duration of (your choice) one to five years. There are few public ranges, including Swan Creek, but a lot of people, including me, shoot on private land. My backyard is my range.

We could use more P-F.com members.

My visit was hanging out with old Army friends that now work for Defense contractors.

I was terribly impressed by the landscape and the nice quality development I saw.

Now the nicest town there is, is not where I want to live. I like to live outside the nicest little town. That looked very feasible around there.

North Carolina

In the past year or so I've spent a good bit of time around Pinehurst and Southern Pines, NC and Pinehurst is my #1 favorite cool small town ever. It bumped Dahlonega, GA to #2.

The demo there appears to be mostly retired folks and Military from nearish Bragg. Awesome restaurants, thin traffic, cool folks. Several outdoor ranges not too far away.

Yeah the state politics might get worse. But live away from the big towns and focus on small town/rural living. I think I could make that work nicely.

I think NC does one of the best jobs of planning their roads and highways in advance of it being a crisis that I've seen.

BTW I bumped into PatMac at a Southern Pines Irish pub and said hi and next thing he's treating me like some long lost friend. My son see's him around there a good bit between the pub or the nearby micro-brewery/growler place.

[Yung]

Pick somewhere that offers a high quality of life and do what you can to keep it from becoming a liberal utopia.

I suspect most gun people, maybe even some members here, are not taking their children to shoot AND educating them on the significance of the 2nd.

My parents came from poor rural backgrounds. My brother and I enjoyed a pretty high standard of living for most of our lives and we could not have turned out more different in our personal politics, partially due to a few critical inconsistencies between our upbringings.

Some kids will turn out another way regardless of the parent's best efforts, but that's still how we lose the war at home no matter what battles we win outside.

[CWM11B]

The Pinhurst/Sandhills area is one of my favorite parts of the state

[Drifting Fate]

Currently reside in AZ, which has been a freedom and firearms paradise. But, there is danger lurking under the water. We've been targeted to be turned into a purple/blue state. We have one Dem senator and will probably end up with two because our current Rep senator is amazingly good at not running for office, and that seems to be her best qualification despite her CV.

Our state Republican Party is entrenched in the old (white) guy thinking, which, speaking as an old (white) guy isn't going to carry very far into the future. It's very much the old boys' network with the Dems swarming over everything else.

Wife and I wanted to move to Texas, but they are undergoing the same assault as we are. Unless they, by some crazy chance, ride a fracturing of the Union into becoming their own country, they are out. (Sounds crazy, but see Mark Steyn amongst others.)

Idaho is next on the list, but, Heaven help me, snow, though I'm sure we could adapt. Heard mixed about liberals trying to take over Boise, and I am an expert in a field which requires I work for a county, and so work options require moving and are limited to what is available at the time.

Then, there is the principle that We Don't Run from Conflict. Sometimes one has to dig in their heels and fight (metaphorically, for the time being). Running away will eventually catch up with a person.