Per a “must-read” story by Politico, there are now 73,000 more independent voters than Republicans in the Golden State, and Democrats make up 44.6% of the electorate, according to Political Data Inc., which tabulates voter file data from county registrars.
California has 19 million registered voters, the latest statistics showing that Democrats now make up 8.4 million of that number. The pity is, as anyone who lived through 2016 knows, our electoral college system is set-up to uplift votes by state far more than the “one person, one vote” ideal. It is something to feel better about as we deal with Trump, to always have in the back of your mind, that we in opposition do make up the majority. Recall, Trump lost the actual vote, while winning the election, and not by a tiny margin as in 2000, but by near three million votes. Moreover, shameless gerrymandering carried out by the Republican party has given them the lead in the House (any number of studies show that simply redrawing districts with some semblance of normalcy throws the majority to the Democrats), and the Senate? Well, the Senate … Wyoming’s 500,000 (or so) people cancel out California’s two Senators. Need I say more? And, we’re still almost tied in the Senate!
I suppose the question is whether – as it so often has in the past – whether California portends the future, the state of Nixon and Reagan, is it demonstrating what happens when you make Hispanics and other minorities “lesser” Americans? Or is this further proof that the parties are becoming more regional, the coasts versus the middle?
I think the former, and we’re well outside the Politico article now, it’s just me and my hard-core followers.
First, the Republican party is splitting itself in two. Even in a place like Mississippi, where I am imprison … choosing to live now, we see a split almost evenly between “Trumplicans” who hate everyone Trump hates, have no time for PC, and will follow him through a brick wall that will never be built except the invisible part. There are the “Republicans” who hide their eyes at every Trump tweet, smile, and pretend it is all okay, Trump is just “quirky,” and they’re getting their conservative judges, besides, what’re they gonna do? Vote Dem? Pfft. Then there are the Democrats, looking increasingly good to a small minority of whites outside the Evangelical movement and embarrassed by the Wall Street centrism of the traditional Republicans.
Texas, in case you hadn’t noticed, is awfully big and so is the Hispanic electorate, one that surely will take two generations before it ever flirts with the Republican party again. Ted Cruz finds himself in a real race, in Texas! I know, I know, nobody, not even fellow Republicans, likes Ted Cruz, still, he’s not a Democrat! Yet, he is still in a serious race, a serious race that the Castro bros. passed upon. (One of them will be governor soon enough, the other, the first Democratic Senator since …Loyd Benson?)
The mid-west is practical, and we must believe that they are learning their lesson. Trump hasn’t brought back jobs, he’s just cut the taxes for the CEO of their company, that’s it, that’s all he planned on doing. Florida was just a tiny bit of Hillary Fatigue away from going Democratic in the last election, take out the yet-to-be-determined Russian factor, and we Dems are nowhere near the “minority” party we’re forced to feel like.
For now, for now, again, we need to accept and re-commit like never before to getting out the vote, and remaining true to some core principles. Remember, whatever happened in California (that’s another column) happened lightning-fast, and it began with making Hispanics the enemy.
Remember Governor Schwarzenegger? Right, neither does anyone in California, but he was just a governor or two ago. It can happen in the snap of a finger, or one big-time indictment, whichever comes first.
Stay true to your blue.
