My love affair with N. Idaho has faded. Cheap land is not worth the political climate. This is what Sarah Palin calls “real America,” a chunk of nation so backwards they think a right-of-center pol like Obama is a socialist. As a heavily-armed pacifist, I spend too much time at the local shooting range. I park next to the truck with the extra-large window decal exclaming “Obama, change for the worse.” My daughter’s civics teacher is a teabagger (and no, not the good type; she believes in the tea party movement and all of its contradictions). My neighbor asks me how I like the peace and quiet, or more specifically, how wonderful it is without blacks or Mexicans. Sorry, but I want a bit or variety, a little color in my vanilla landscape. So my love affair with N. Idaho has faded.

I look forward to battling mildew and the salt air rather than closed minds. Sure, I’ll have to give up my 30-round magazines and assault-rifle sleekness, but California is where I want to be. Hello Redwoods, goodbye bigotry.

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