As a proud 4th generation Texan, I would like to say going to California in various ways would strike me as being a place that uses state power in backwards ways as well.

Unfortunately for the both of us, not to speak for anything specifically to California, our states have managed to make some bad decisions. I believe I have standing to speak to recent Texas policy in regard to the recent abortion madness, illegalizing delta-8 THC products etc... sad times indeed.

I am very pro federalism myself, and think that competition of polity would be a great unwinding of federal power. But it seems the iterim is going to be the states fighting against the Fed in extreme ways.

Can you elaborate on how Texas has big gov in peoples life that SFBay doesnt?

Under Texas franchise laws, consumers can only buy cars from auto dealers and can’t buy them directly from automakers.

As it stands in the Lone Star State, Tesla’s company-owned outlets can’t legally sell a Tesla in Texas. This is even more hilarious given they are building the Cybertruck in Texas.

Both are authoritarian, just depends on if you like left vs right wing authoritarianism.

Texas more strongly limits the drugs you can put in your body. Limits access to abortions. etc...

California limits guns, has vaccine mandates. Limits smoking in your own condo. etc...

Many people live in mental prison and because they don't know any better, they fear change. They fear that, perhaps they lived majority of their life trapped and only their own ignorance kept them in the cage. They fear to admit that to themselves, they fear the feeling they lost their life to easily preventable pain and misery.

Totally 100% agree, Psilocybin is an incredible medicine.

"Occasionally I leave the Bay Area and am astounded by the degree to which other people like to have Big Government dictate their personal lives. Texas, for instance, blew my mind."

I think it depends on the issues one is using for their perspective. Some people may find CA more oppressive.

>I wish more power would be devolved to the states.

Doesn't everybody!? Why aren't we seeing more of this

We are seeing more of it as the Federal government is more paralyzed due to internal divisions in the country. We've already seen states declare themselves immigration "sanctuary" states where immigration laws will not be enforced, and then others declared themselves gun control "sanctuary" states where gun control laws will not be enforced. States have adopted their own fuel emissions standards. California announced it would ban ICE engines while Texas announced it will tax EV cars.

I'd strongly support more devolution and even a U.S. breakup, TBH. Local government is more accountable and I support localism and local autonomy whenever I can. I'd even support a situation in which states had their own currencies, citizenship rules, etc. I understand this is utopian, but more localism and distribution of power rather than concentration of power is something I generally support.

No. In fact, I think most people want more federal power. They just want that federal power directed in different ways.

For instance, the overwhelming popularity of federal single payer healthcare today signals that people want big government.

Cause it’s prone to failure? America tried the weak federal system where everyone had a different bank and different rules. It was essentially 13 independent smaller “states” than one nation.

Even now people are aghast when Texas limits abortion or tries to outlaw gay marriage or when California’s increased fuel standards affect the entire nation.

Additionally, it makes it impossible for states which would enact stronger gun control measures to enforce them when neighbor states just hand guns out in much less stringent manners.

It also has federal ramifications when gerrymandered districts affect the makeup of our federal law making bodies and increasingly populate them with far more right or left wing representatives than would occur in more balanced districts while disenfranchising voters who’re American systems.

I’m more on the side of California at the end of the day but we’re all Americans here in America, not Texans, Californians, or Iowans. It’s fine to have cultural differences (its what makes the country beautiful in a lot of ways), but the idea we should all just “figure it out with our neighbors” who’re our neighbors cause of relatively arbitrary lines drawn sometimes hundreds of years is a bit crazy and a gift to those who’d see a weak America.

I understand that this is too much of a reach back.. but there must be some consideration of the fact that a decentralized weak america over threw the globes strongest power. That power thought that Indians(asia) were just English. That australians, canadians, the western colonies were were just English. Eventually there was a realization that these political differences demanded the allowance for self determination. It seems, in order to keep a strong central Oneness, we must enfore coercive, destructive powers to enforce one region over another. The comment I am responding to seems imply a similar extreme; that Floridians are perfectly reconcilable under the name American as is an Oregonite, who are sepperated by 1,556 miles away! Or even that generational Virginians have much politically and culturally in common with generational Massachusettsans. I don't know what is best, truly, but I hope the united states does not become one large California, or Texas, or any ideology that presupposes the people of a specific region. I'll hop off my soap box. :-)

I'm confused, how accessible is this stuff to you? Do you mean black market or prescription?

Right there with you. Last I checked, LSD has been extremely scarce since Hardison got snapped up in 2005. Even if you can get your hands on the stuff (or any of the drugs mentioned for that matter), there's still no guarantee that what you're getting is what the dealer says it is.

You can order a kit and grow them home, in the UK it’s a grey area legally. The grow kits are legal but the mushrooms are not

It’s trivial to get a prescription for ketamine. And I live in the Bay so I just go to my church for psilocybin.

Which church is this? I'm not in the US

An entheogenic church. Sermons on Sundays at 4:20 PM.