September 16, 2003
California Uber Alles
Eve Tushnet, an otherwise bright young blogger from DC writes some typical comment about California: "Let them fall into the sea already." About once a week I encounter this sort of balderdash in the blogosphere. I generally comment on it with a snide remark like, "fine, we'll leave, but then who will you get to pay your state's relief bill, to supply you with vital defense aerospace industry, to entertain you, to feed you, etc."
I especially get this attitude when dealing with the District of Subsidia or Byrdland or other such regions that seem to survive solely on the largess of states like California that contribute way more to the federal tax collection than they get out of it.
I am not saying that California is perfect, but to have someone from a City that elected Marion Barry as mayor, after he got out of prison is absurd. Sure we have terrible politicians, and we pass dumb laws out here. Attack those politicians, attack those dumb laws, but PLEASE do not go out later and follow our dumb example, then have the gall to complain about us.
These attitudes are a little too much like encountering a Frenchman who complains about American culture, yet sees every Hollywood Schlockbuster, listens to Madonna Ciccone, patronizes EuroDisney, etc.
If you are not in California and think our ideas are stupid, then you had better make sure that your state does not follow suit in two years! Generally bad ideas start in Berkeley, Santa Monica or Davis. They get justly laughed at. Oakland follows in a year, then San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, then the rest of the state, then New York, then Washington, Minnesota, Massachussetts, and then the rest, with the exception of Nevada, Montana, and maybe Alabama, who hold out until it becomes federal law.
But even better than griping about us, or even fighting our ideas when they land in a statehouse near you, is working to change our culture right here in the Golden State. Imagine what would happen if California were turned around. Then you would see the fruits in your own land in just a few years.
Wishing that we would leave the union or fall into the sea will only make us angry, and you will not like us when we are angry.
Posted by erik at September 16, 2003 11:04 PM | TrackBackVallejo realized that Mexico would continue to see California as a backwater and would never do much for it. He was absolutely correct. One of my favorite Yankee characters in the whole episode was Capt. Fremont. I love the goofy early history of our state, and highly recommend Kevin Starr's series of books on our history. He is not only the State Librarian and a good scholar, but a devout Catholic with, I believe, a traditionalist bent.
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at September 18, 2003 9:48 AMSorry, Alicia. Trust me: it was not an insult! If you never return to your home state, I hope that one day you'll feel enough at home in New England to call yourself a New Englander. In the meantime we'll try to fix things up around here ...
BTW, there actually was a war fought between Mexico and the United States over the annexation of California. The U.S. declared war, there were a few small skirmishes, but Mexico didn't have the resources and lost the war without much bloodshed. Most of the population was indifferent anyway, and many of the Californios (such as General Mariano Vallejo) were convinced that annexation to the U.S. was inevitable and should not be resisted.
Posted by: Jeff Culbreath at September 17, 2003 7:55 PMI missed that bit in CA history in the 5th grade.
BTW - I am NOT a New Englander. I am a west-coast expat. I have only been here in NH for 3 years, and I was born in CA and called it home for 40 years.
Right, Alicia. Unfortunately our "image" is broadcast to the world by the worst elements of Hollywood and the Bay Area. Next time your fellow New Englanders slam the Golden State, ask them if they've ever met a Californian from Gustine, Fiddletown, or Richvale. Oh, and California was technically "purchased" from Mexico for several million dollars (was it 16MM?) via the Treaty of Guadalupe. It was a point of honor for the Americans -- an "eminent domain" kind of purchase, you might say.
Posted by: Jeff Culbreath at September 17, 2003 11:27 AMOut of state critics have no real concept of the breadth of California, both geographically and culturally. Heck, I get majorly peeved with those who think that Los Angeles is the city portrayed as such in 90210 and similar Hollywierdnesses. Unless one has lived in the state, one is utterly clueless. Each region has its own flavor, from Gustine to Chula Vista, from Pacoima to Pasadena, from Crescent City to Petaluma. California has megalopoli, and it has isolated rural outposts where one is 60 miles from a hospital or supermarket. It is the same mistake that some make, of equating New York state with New York city.
Another problem some have is the sheer size of the state. On the east coast, the same coastal area covered by 3 states (CA, OR, WA) is covered by how many little states?
And then let us discuss the fact that CA was hijacked into the USA, not even won by a decent war of any kind (unlike TX) or purchased (unlike Alaska and Louisiana). The only other state with a similar acquisition was Hawaii, which was acquired for the USA by the patronizing descendants of New England missionaries.
The comparison with France is apt in many ways, especially in the North, and I still have hope for France, the Eldest Daughter of the Church, as well as for California.
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at September 17, 2003 9:18 AMIn some ways California is like France: hot and cold. We have the best of the best and the worst of the worst.
Posted by: Jeff Culbreath at September 16, 2003 11:39 PMWell said. And not only that, these out-of-staters don't realize that the Central Valley feels more like the Midwest than Kansas or Missouri. Kansas City makes Sacramento look like Mayberry.
California can stand a little criticism from the folks in Dalton, Pennsylvania. But critics in DC, NYC, Chicago, and Cleveland have their own houses to clean.
Posted by: Jeff Culbreath at September 16, 2003 11:37 PM