The Quiet Californians

Pajamas Media ^ | 10/02/2012 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Gaffer]

Yes, they are woefully outnumbered. From LA where there are millions of illegals, foreigners from every country and liberals, to San Francisco, to every liberally dominated city and enclave near the coastline of California.

The farther you get back into the high desert and into less laid-back places where people actually produce for the country (there are some exceptions), the more you see conservative Californians.

[Parley Baer]

California has had chances to correct the errors every election but have voted in failure. Conservatives have been moving out in droves for years. I know many of them. With the majority of the electorate now being very liberal I see no chance for change. I would say 1/3 of the state has a clue with the rest being clueless. Don’t forget that Free Republic is based in California.

[Red Badger]

If Romney-Ryan takes California I would do the Snoopy Happy Dance........

[nascarnation]

I remember visiting California (both north and south) in the 60s (from the midwest) and thinking “this is heaven on earth”.

I feel badly for the good people there who have roots, don’t want to leave, but are confronted with a perpetual liberal governance.

[sissyjane]

I live in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and this is so true. Sad AND true.

[SeekAndFind]

I often play mind games to see if California ( or New York ) could be divided into several states...

In NY, there has been a movement ( small but active ) for Long Island to secede and form its own state.

But how do you divide California??

Here's one possibility... as presented by this website



The political facts of life are that even with just three states Californians would gain four U. S. Senators, no small concern for the other states. However, a division as suggested here as of 2004 would create four open Senate seats unless incumbents Diane Feinstein or Barbara Boxer relocated, for they both would live in Coastal California which would be the most liberal new State.

The new Southern California and Northern California would likely present new opportunities for both of the two major parties with the real possibility that two conservatives and one or two moderate Republicans could take the seats. Of course, Democrats could take the seats also, but the point is that true opportunities would exist for both parties. This should make the idea more appealing in the current Congress.

Political realities aside, the three new states would constitute "average sized" states when compared to the rest of the states.

So how would the Three Californias stack up in the ranking with a total of 52 states?

Southern California would be the 2nd most populous state, slightly behind Texas, and 21st in area, ranked between Washington and Georgia.

Northern California would be a bit larger in area, ranking 19th between Oklahoma and Washington, but would be 21st in population between Maryland and Arizona.

Coastal California would be 9th in population, between Michigan and New Jersey, and 42nd in area between South Carolina and West Virginia.

With the division of the state, Californians would find themselves in states more comparable to others in the Union. Each of the new states would have political influence similar to most other states. Each would have a clearer image of what the state was about.

[Gaffer]

Last time I was in LA, had to teach a class at a major defense contractor installation near the airport.....I literally did not recognize it as my country.

I did 8+ years in the military, seven of them overseas, so I know foreign, and I know third world.

Mexicans, Hungarians, Russians, FSU country nationals, you name it. Not one what I’d call a traditional American that I heard or saw outside of that Defense Contractor’s Campus. Essentially, I was a foreigner in my own country.

[Gaffer]

I’m thinking we can let the San Andreas Fault decide that question.

[SeekAndFind]

2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

[SeekAndFind]

Mandated Employer Health Insurance

[SeekAndFind]

What these maps indicate is that California includes regions that usually will vote socially and economically conservative (red on the stem cell map) and regions that usually will vote socially and economically liberal (green on the employer health insurance map). California even has “swing counties.”

[nascarnation]

I also remember visiting Phoenix and Atlanta in the early 70s, thinking how nice they were, then 5 million or so folks moved into each one making them look a lot like Chicago with a warmer climate.

[sissyjane]

I would love to move to Montana, but my children and grandchildren are here, and can’t move...

[Gaffer]

I was born in Georgia...roamed the streets of Atlanta at night many a time.

Call it racist, I don’t really care...Atlanta proper became unsafe when Maynard Jackson, the first black mayor, became mayor. It has been unsafe ever since then. If you live in the city of Atlanta and go out at night, your more than likely to be a victim. They can’t even protect the students at Georgia Tech, or GSU....at least an incident EVERY week.

I don’t care how the police jiggle their reports and statistics (Chief Beverly Harvard’s Police force was caught by the FBI falsely reducing the crime statistics -— Mayor Kaseem Reed and his bunch are now reporting lowest crime in nearly ever.....same damned thing). They lie to get businesses to stay and to mislead stupid white people to move to “cool city.”

The black poweratti of the mayorship is interested in only one thing...how they can get their hands on all that concession cash at the Atlanta Airport and how they can keep on being re-elected..

[Bitsy]

I remember visiting California (both north and south) in the 60s (from the midwest) and thinking “this is heaven on earth”.

had that same feeling (from the South). It’s such a shame but when you two or more liberals together they can screw anything up. Liberals and green liberals are insane. It must be the water, too much altitude, too much fresh air, not enough fresh air - I don’t know. And, they settle along the coast where they can surf or skate their brains out on my dime.

[Calpublican]

And we just elected Jerry Brown as governor!!!!! He oversaw a LOT of the crazy spending programs for Pete's sake. Talk about letting the fox into the hen house. Maybe the author mentioned this bit of insanity, but I got so depressed I couldn't finish reading the article.

I would like to leave CA, as others here have expressed, but we own a small business and are stuck for now.

I tell my husband we cannot afford to retire here and he says, "I was born in California and I want to die here."

My response: "That can be arranged."

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Sort of wordy. CA is a drunk, addicted to unionized public employees and their outsize pensions; regulatory regimes within regulatory agencies gone thoroughly amok, and uncontrollable spending on all manner of benefits for illegals. It’s a damn shame, but the idea that it can be reversed before the state turns into an utter hellhole is patently absurd delusion. The voting districting has been gerrymandered into a morass of self-immolation that very obviously has to hit bottom before it reverses. Having lived in CA for 40 years, I expect to be leaving within 40 days.

[Osage Orange]

V.D.H. is one brilliant fellow.

I moved out of Calif. in '97....One of the best things I ever did.

[Carry_Okie]

Your three state map is one of the betters I’ve seen, but I wouldn’t put Kern County in with the southern “state.” It has more in common with the Sacramento Valley than LA. Trinity County as “coastal” doesn’t sit well with me either but not to as great a degree. Methinks the map should be more topographical and less political.