Right on the Left Coast

In the 4 months I've been doing this blog, I've made it a point not to get political. There's plenty of soapbox forums in the world without me cluttering it further. I've got plenty of opinions, and I'm always a willing sparring partner for a bouncy dialogue, but a preacher I am not. What I WILL comment on though, is the political atmosphere I've observed out here in my new digs.

For some reason, I got it fixed in my head that the whole state was going to be this bastion of liberalism. You know, "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair," "gliddy glop gloopy," that kind of thing. Nothing but positive, brother-loving "vibes." Wrong. I'm increasingly amazed at how conservative the climate is out here. Chalk it up to my own naivete more than anything. I mean, if I stopped to think about it, the Governator is the Governor for crying out loud, and Ronnie Baby has been all but annointed sainthood here.

Burned out on my jazz cd's, scared to listen to my hip-hop in the wake of the Imus fall out, I've been listening more and more to talk radio during my 45-minute commute. While my personal politics tend to fall on the left side of the fence, I find myself much more drawn to conservative radio. I find their passion, even when I deem it grossly misguided, to be very entertaining. I'd say there are two common themes I hear more than anything else: 1) Staunch support for the war/troops in Iraq, and 2) "It's time to build a Berlin-esque wall or SOMETHING to keep out the Mexicans."

It's the passion behind the border issue I find most fascinating. My minimal experience with the extensive Latino population of L.A. has been, they're the same as everyone else out here. Populous, hard-working, certainly willing to get their hands dirty. I see them working within the restaurants, at the bus stops of Beverly Hills coming and going from their domestic or landscaping jobs, packs of day laborers looking for work every morning, business managers, you name it. The whole spectrum of working capacities, same as any other peoples. Yet I sense such an undercurrent of hostility towards them. I suppose not outwardly in day to day dealings, but when the faceless voices "appear" on the radio, on a repercussionless forum, there's real venom behind some of these callers.

"Get the troops out of Iraq, and onto the Mexican border!" "Forget a wall, the border jumpers should be shot on sight." That kind of stuff. Real vitriol. Just this morning, a prominent radio voice here was talking about the various diseases and such "these people" bring here. There seems to be SUCH resentment and disdain.

There are a host of legitimate issues regarding our immigration policies. I'm personally not a believer in carte blanche, no questions asked citizenship for whomever asks. But while I'm all for immigrants entering the U.S. via proper channels, I don't think SoCal anyway, realizes what would happen to their lifestyles if they got what they wished for, and they all disappeared.

Where's all the groovy cats? Where's all the good vibes? This aspect of my California living is kind of like setting out to go to Woodstock, but ending up with Altamont. You still got a great show with a host of different acts, but instead of Hendrix playing the Star-Spangled banner at dawn to close the show, you got the Hells Angels stabbing someone during the Stones set. Puts a bit of a damper on things, to say the least.