I wonder sometimes people imagine California as this liberal oasis in a red sea of fascist dominated American national politics. A long time ago before I moved here I had images of hippies in Haight Ashbury, rolling golden hills, Hollywood, sun and surf, healthy eating, gay rights, cultural diversity, music and art and the best weed in the world - people act really free there, I thought.
But the truth is California is really quite fractured in politics and idealogy as you can see by this map.
2016 Presidential Election - Wikipedia source
The red part is Trump voters, the blue is Clinton. The red part is what we call "The Valley" short for the San Joaquin Valley. There's another valley perhaps more famous, Silicon Valley, in the blue area.
This article in the NY Times (sorry, paywall) sheds a lot of light about the politics in California.
"In California’s Farm Country, the Tide of ‘Resistance’ Runs Dry Ahead of the Primary
Although within California it is common to pit north versus south, the sharp cultural divisions between rural and urban areas are in many ways more significant." By Jose A. Del Real, May 29, 2018
Reveal spoiler
50 Billion. Wow. Just wow.
There's a few movements to break California apart into separate states. Most of these movements appeal to what I think of as like "state nationalism" emotional pull on the front side, with a strong purse strings pull on the backside. Leaders of these movements have deep pockets but haven't been successful, yet. Peter Thiel, former co-founder of PayPal and CEO of eBay, wants California to succeed from the U.S. Another billionaire Tim Draper wants California to be split into 3 states (used to be 6). Both of these men have political ties.
My opinion is that succession will never happen. Anyone who lives here knows that all areas of the state depend on other areas. Southern California and the Valley depend on water from Northern California. Silicon Valley has a huge influence on the whole state's economy. We all go runnin' to the farmer's market when it's strawberry season.
I learned recently California is #2 in rice production in the U.S. What about Hollywood? I dunno. I think it looks rich but you know how you hear how all these celebrities are really in debt. One hand washes the other as they say. The state is healhier as a whole despite ideological differences.
Excessive Patriotism
Recently I happened across this YouTube channel Joel & Lia who are two Brits that have a lot to say about Americans. They try to be comedic and for the most part they do an ok job - I laughed, mostly. It's funny to see what other people think about Americans. They also make fun of themselves and Britain so it balances out. Something they said though got me thinking, they said "Americans are overly patriotic."
)
I kinda laughed a little but then I felt a little uncomfortable. Like, I hope no one would notice that I found it funny. But why would they? I'm in my house and I'm sitting here in my jammies. Alone. But that's exactly it. We feel guilty for not being patriotic.
It's programmed into us from the time we're born to be very showy about our love of country. I can sing at least the first part of our National Anthem, I know the pledge of allegiance, and I can also sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, God Bless America, and my favorite - America the Beautiful (which really should be the national anthem). I can recite the 50 states in alphabetical order I just remembered.
I'm not sure if schools in other countries have kids memorize their constitutions or other laws of the people, but we do. It's really emphasized our country was born from a Revolution. There's a great story about it how we threw off the oppressive English. I think people just really like those kinds of stories. I wonder what Brits think of other countries that have revolutionary backgrounds, like France? Are the French overly patriotic too?
Thank you France for the Statue of Liberty! 💋
Can't help myself.
I'm sure it must be a bit overwhelming if you're not from America to see the red white and blue emblazoned and waving around everywhere. Whether you find this display of patriotism off-putting well I don't know what to tell you other than you just have to visit during the 4th of July to get the full enchilada. Excessive? Nahhh...
I want to end with many Americans love their country but often disagree and are critical of their current government. I personally I feel I am patriotic but currently dislike my government - I consider these two separate things. There's a level of darkness right now that is so frightening. It's not been so long ago I was sitting in my university courses watching Adolf Hitler videos and reading about WWII and there's no denying the parallels. Gives me chills.
That's why it's a big deal about the football players kneeling and other symbolic acts of protest. Protesting during the national anthem is a huge leap of departure from the programming - it's still loving your country, but saying hey I don't like what the government is doing. Whether you agree with it or not is immaterial. The fact that people are breaking the programming (of being ruled by guilt) is significant.
~
June 5th we are having a Statewide election and of course I will vote. I always vote. It's all a bit hopeless feeling at times. Meh. I'm just tired and this post has gone on much too long.
Eyes heavy...
If you want to understand California historically I would recommend reading books by John Steinbeck to understand the history of the culture in this great state. It still is there in the undercurrent even with all the shiny and new.
Boileau said that Kings, Gods and Heroes only were fit subjects for literature. The writer can only write about what he admires. Present-day kings aren't very inspiring, the gods are on a vacation and about the only heroes left are the scientists and the poor …
And since our race admires gallantry, the writer will deal with it where he finds it.
He finds it in the struggling poor now.
John Steinbeck, Radio interview (1939) quoted in Introduction by Robert DeMott to a 1992 edition of The Grapes of Wrath Wikipedia source
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Good article! I've been meaning to check some of your posts out and have just been busy so I am going to give you some attention this week! (at least try to) - it's easy to get lost in the steemitverse!
I heard that caolifornia was trying to branch off as its own country. The thought was that they were big enough and could self sustain. Of course, I didn't see this happening, nor do I see it splitting into more than one state. That just sounds rediculous but we can't expect some kind of change to never happen. Although that is a little extreme! I know what you mean by the excessive patriotism and the whole 'MURICA! crowd falls in line. The thing is that we (at least me) just don't hear too much about the patriotism in other countries. It's like they hide it or something, but I know damn well that everyone is "overly patriotic" for their country. Not just their country, but everything. Their car, their work, their lawn, their cooking, etc. Everyone seems to be a legend in their own mind.
I know I am, it was given to me as a "award" in the 6th grade. The thing is, we all get the award. I'm awesome cause I think it. You're awesome cause you think it. Together we be awesome. I'm Venezuelan and I am patriotic for my country of birth but I'm in America. America is my #1. I help Venezuela by upvoting venezuelans, it's the best I can do and thus far it feels great.
I'm pretty sure that france didn't offer the statue of liberty to us first, but that and other things that came to mind fall under the whole conspiracy theory tag and topics that I won't mention here but I've spent countless hours researching it. You can call me a Critical Thinker.
The level of darkness has always been there it's just getting easier to spot it, and boy it's dark. and twisted.
Spot on here man. It reminds me of a few movies regarding brainwashing and the main character of the film begins to "break free" and saves everyone from the brainwashing. Much like "The Giver"
Just want you to know I appreciate your comment very much. I don't expect you to - I follow and comment on your stuff purely for your rocks (and sometimes food) ;) hehehe
I agree with you that most people are patriotic for their country. I have been watching this British couple and they have a bit/routine they do where they compare their culture with others and they try to be light or comedic about it but they're a bit too "posh" to pull it off in my opinion. Sometimes it is enlightening and other times they just come across as snobby, which they admit to even.
Admitting it doesn't absolve the snobbiness. All that means is one knows thyself, right? It's funny to me how people think that just by admitting their flaws somehow that makes it "ok." Or I guess the word is "woke" now? I'm a bit behind on my slang. I'm "hibernated."
That's very cool you are from Venezuela. I have read articles in the news about the situation there and I wish I could help too. There's so much corruption everywhere in the world that it's hard to know how to help.
I think something that especially called to me about the Venezuela situation was the difficulty of getting medicine there. It was a long article about a child that had a staph infection from getting a simple scratch on her leg and her family's harrowing experience trying to get medicine and doctors. Their child seriously almost died. And this family was middle income by their standards and had some savings and income but the fact the medicine just wasn't even available was the scary part.
It's like even if you had the money you couldn't get it or had to travel to some city 100 miles away and bribe someone. I just hurt for them. We have a lot of that too here in the U.S. - I occasionally hear some stories, one I remember about a man who couldn't afford the antibiotics for his tooth infection and died from it. Our medical system is effed up, man!
This is so true lol
I didn't know that about the Statue of Liberty, but am not surprised. I definitely could spend time on conspiracy theories but I might just go really nuts because I'm already naturally paranoid.
PS - I know you're busy and I don't expect a comment back no worries!
Well I certainly appreciate the support! Great comment! Yeah the situation down there really stinks. I know the medical wasn't always this bad but I don't think it's every been great. I used get these weird bumps on my skin as a kid and the "procedure" to take them off in Venezuela was to literally cut them off with a razor blade. When we moved to the United States in 1991, the Doctor told our parents to take us swimming in a swimming pool and that the chlorine alone would get rid of them, and they did. This was back in 1991! I still remember going there it was like a nightmare while the doctor basically stabbed me with a razorblade.
I have read articles on how the statue of liberty was given to us that don't point to the conspiracy (totally hides it) but some say that they offered the statue to egypt first and egypt declined taking into account who the statue actually represents and what happened to Pharaoh in the Bible during Exodus. Of course, I can't say if this is 100% true or not.
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