California has been a beacon, a destination, a paradise and a promised land since its precipitous expansion in the midst of a gold rush.
It has also been a perennial source of envy, ridicule and contempt.
That denial has gained much more currency in recent years as California's population has shrunk for the first time in more than a century.
The “exodus” has become an industry, stoking real estate markets from Nevada to Tennessee, fanning the political flames of red versus blue, and launching thousands of analyzes of what went wrong.
The ultimate insult… or a comforting reality check? – appeared last week in a Los Angeles Times poll that found that 50% of adults nationwide believe California is in decline. (What a shame, man.)
Nearly half of Republicans surveyed said the state is “not really American.” Whatever that means.
LA Times columnists Mark Z. Barabak (a proud California native) and Anita Chabria (a happy Ohio transplant) discuss the poll, the hate of the haters, and the state of their troubled but still much-loved state.
Barrabác: First of all, Anita, are you okay? Have you not choked to death from harmful air pollution, or been run over by some thief escaping through your pothole-filled neighborhood?
Chabria: To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of our deaths are greatly exaggerated, once again. The Golden State is still alive, well and, dare I say, a thriving part of America.
But I am concerned that almost 30% of respondents agreed with the statement that California is “not really American.” Nearly half of Republicans thought that, which is less surprising. But, inexplicably, 21% of Californians did too. That's more than just the Fox crowd regurgitating the right-wing narrative of California as a breeding ground for social ills.
People, we joined the union in 1850, before Kansas, West Virginia, and Nebraska, to name a few. We have been Americans longer than many of the so-called middle states. For days I've been stumped as to whether one-third of America is terrible at geography or history, or if they think it's some kind of dig at California.
What do you think, Marcos? Aren't we actually Americans in some fundamental sense that I don't understand?
Barabac: I guess it depends on how you define it. American.
If we're talking about a certain type of America, one that is overwhelmingly white and conservative in its social, political, and cultural values, then, no, California does not measure up to that standard.
We have been a majority-minority state for more than a generation. Politically, the state has leaned heavily Democratic for decades, having supported Republicans for much of our history.
Culturally, we have always tended to be broad-minded (or too permissive, in the eyes of critics). New beginnings and reinvention have been a draw since the first gold seekers (those who dug actual nuggets) arrived here from the more hard-pressed and class-conscious East Coast.
As you suggest, it's not just about Fox News. There are many alienated Californians (the state has more than 5 million registered Republicans, which exceeds the population of many states) who feel ignored in Sacramento and slighted by so-called sophisticated people in San Francisco and Los Angeles. That probably represents the 21% that made you scratch your head.
But to be clear, many of the people interviewed in the survey obviously view California through a partisan lens. Or, perhaps it should be said, while wearing a thick pair of blinders.
I mean, 3 in 10 Republicans said the state has a worse natural environment than other states. Actually? Go shout that from the top of Yosemite Falls. Or in Santa Barbara at sunset. Or on a sunny winter day in Joshua Tree National Park, as people in the Midwest defrost their snow shovels so they can dig their cars out of the piles.
That said, we have a lot of problems, don't we?
Chabria: Every place does it and of course we are no exception.
The survey highlighted a problem that most of us agree on: the cost of living in California is too high. More than 80% of California residents felt this way, and it's no surprise.
I would venture to guess that this has a lot to do with the price of housing. People can't pay their rent, which leads to a whole host of other problems, including older people being forced into homelessness.
I truly believe that California's future depends on finding a way to build massive amounts of new housing, not just a few units here and there. We need the mental health beds promised by Proposition 1 on the March ballot and find ways to create more affordable homes for the broad swath of middle-class Californians.
And that's just for starters.
But the survey also noted that most Californians, including me, are happy living here.
So the Huntington Beach City Council can rant all they want, and the haters can hate. California will always stand for diversity, freedom and tolerance, all values that unfortunately seem to be increasingly scarce east of the Sierra.
Where do you see the bright spots, Mark?
Barrabác: Aside from its unsurpassed physical beauty, California remains a place that attracts innovators and entrepreneurs. It remains a port for the politically persecuted and for those who feel unwanted or unwelcome living somewhere else as themselves.
Yes, our sales and income taxes are high compared to other places. Housing, as you suggested, is obscenely expensive and we desperately need more.
But check out life elsewhere that is cheaper and supposedly better. Research the cost of insurance in Florida. Get nickels every few miles on Eastern toll roads. Sweat through a Texas summer and hope the power grid (and your air conditioner) doesn't shut down.
Sure, our government regulates with a heavier hand than elsewhere, and it's not hard to find examples of excess. But isn't it nice, for example, to breathe clean air and avoid the watery eyes and tight chests experienced by people choked by smog in Southern California not many decades ago?
Speaking of seeing through the darkness, here's an encouraging finding in that otherwise depressing survey: the attitude of young people.
Seven in 10 people ages 18 to 34 view California as a trendsetter, and 43% of respondents were twice as likely as other Americans to say they would consider moving to the state. They believe California's future is bright. Me too.
I've moved around a lot, including the obligatory (for a politician like me) stint in Washington, DC. I thought I had spent my career covering our nation's capital, but it lasted only seven years. Like Dorothy, who traveled all the way to Oz to find out she really wanted to be in Kansas, California appealed to me the entire time I was away.
Despite all of the state's difficulties (or challenges, if you prefer), I can't imagine living anywhere else. California resides deep in my heart.
And you?
Chabria: I love California.
As a mixed-race woman with mixed-race children, I value their tolerance and diversity. I value her willingness to fight and lead at this critical time when democracy is fragile. I appreciate that it is truly a place where you live and let live, even when people disagree.
To me, the poll results say less about life in California than the sad effectiveness of right-wing political propaganda and the power of scaremongering over the truth. MAGA needs California to be a villain, to represent the supposed failures of the Democratic Party, especially around crime and immigration, and reality be damned.
If no one else wants them, we will be left with the tired and the poor, with the huddled masses. California has always embodied and always will embody the American dream, that each of us matters and each of us belongs.
That respect for fairness and equality is what makes us the Golden State.
