“[T]he demography of California today is the demography of America tomorrow -- just as the social and fiscal policies of California in the last decade mirror those of the U.S. government today,” advised Buchanan.

In California, he wrote, “the well-to-do and the wealthy are hammered [with the largest share of the taxes], which is why many have quietly closed their businesses, packed and gone back over the mountains whence their fathers came.”

Just as the U.S. government has undertaken huge new (and expensive) responsibilities, California also went on a spending spree – issuing bonds when state revenues did not cover the costs.

Predictably, Buchanan instructed, the irresponsible spending sent its credit rating down the tubes. “So, too, U.S. Treasury bonds, T-bills and the American dollar are now increasingly suspect,” he advised.

Demographically, California is where America will be in 2040, he warned. The racially diverse but dysfunctional and distrustful city of Los Angeles is the model big city of America’s relentlessly approaching future.

“White folks, who are leaving California as they did in the millions in the 1990s, are below half the population. Hispanics, their numbers surging due to legal and illegal immigration, are well over a third of the population. The African-American share of California’s population is also falling, as the Asian share is rising, again from immigration,” Buchanan instructed.

But watch out, he wrote, certain vital safety valves are being screwed shut – resulting in the columnist’s parting rhetorical question.

“Californians who are running away from the communities and towns in which they were raised have Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Utah and Nevada to head to. But when all of America arrives at where California is at today, where do the Americans run to?”

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