Posted on 07/23/2012 4:08:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
LOS ANGELES — This would seem a moment of great opportunity for California Republicans. The state has become a national symbol of fiscal turmoil and dysfunction, the Legislature is nearly as unpopular as Congress and Democrats control every branch of government.
But instead, the state party — once a symbol of Republican hope and geographical reach and which gave the nation Ronald Reagan (and Richard M. Nixon) — is caught in a cycle of relentless decline, and appears in danger of shrinking to the rank of a minor party.
“We are at a lower point than we’ve ever been,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy, the No. 3 Republican in the United States House of Representatives. “It’s rebuilding time.”
Registered Republicans now account for just 30 percent of the California electorate, and are on a path that analysts predict could drop them to No. 3 in six years, behind Democrats, who currently make up 43 percent, and independent voters, with 21 percent.
“It’s no longer a statewide party,” said Allan Hoffenblum, who worked for 30 years as a Republican consultant in California. “They are down to 30 percent, which makes it impossible to win a statewide election. You just can’t get enough crossover voters.”
“They have alienated large swaths of voters,” he said. “They have become too doctrinaire on the social issues. It’s become a cult.”
There is not a single Republican holding statewide office. Democrats overwhelmingly control the State Assembly and Senate. In interviews, Republicans were unable to come up with any names of credible candidates preparing to run for statewide office. By contrast, the Democratic bench is bustling with ambitious younger politicians who are waiting for their moment. It is a giant turnaround since 2003, when Arnold Schwarzenegger knocked out the Democratic governor, Gray Davis,
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"Fled" is right. I saw the handwriting on the wall early in Schwarzenegger's first term, and began looking at the prospect of relocating out of state.
In time, good friends in Texas convinced us to come down and have a look. We did, and were delighted with what we found. Two months later, we'd moved the family and the business here.
It was only after being here a couple of years that I realized what an incredibly wise choice we'd made. If the SHTF, I know that my family is in the safest possible place in the country.
Perhaps it’s time for the Leviathin to crumble under the burden of its excess weight.
I’m living in Georgia since 1997 (a California exile) and now seeing an increase in the number of license plates from the once Golden State arriving here in the metro Atlanta area.
I spend a lot of time in California and know a lot of Republicans who live there, but there are obviously not enough to control statewide elections.
California considers Detroit a shining example to follow. May they both rot in the same hell. When perverts & bums make up over half of all voters, there isn’t much hope left for a democracy.
BTW - I lived in California from 2001-4. As I neared retirement from the military, I made certain I would NOT retire in California!
Unhappily, many transplants are trying to tear Arizona down now...
That is exactly the case that Jim Rob, I, and others have been making on this site, since before Romney secured the Republican nomination.
People will wag their heads in agreement with you, as long as you're describing what's happened in California, but when you try to make the same case for the national situation, their logic circuits disconnect.
It's infuriating.
So....can we kick CA out of the United States?
Two types of governmental entities in Cal. Those who have declared bankruptcy and those who will.
Wait till next year when Tony Villar steps down as mayor of LA and every leftist north of Buena Park starts howling at the new mayor to fix the problems.
Coming to a country near you!
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