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| 5/23 |
| 2010/8/29-9/30 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Domestic/Immigration] UID:53942 Activity:kinda low |
8/29 OC turning liberal, maybe there is hope for CA afterall:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/us/politics/30orange.html
\_ and the state is slowly turning conservative. Meg 2010!
\_ We will see. Seems unlikely.
\_ Yeah, because CA sure has a problem with not enough dems in power!
If only dems had been running the state for the last 40 years!
\_ Yes, if only they'd been running the state for the last 40
years without the GOP blocking every goddamn budget that
made sense. Blaming the party in power when you keep holding
them up is a shameful charade.
\_ CA is doing pretty well compared to most of the nation, believe
it or not.
\_ Big parts of OC (like Stabba Ana) turning into a barrio does
not bode well for California.
\_ Sure it does, immigrants have always revitalized America.
The newest wave is no different.
\_ So you think that the entire State becoming a slum except
for a few gated communities here and there is revitalization?
Previous immigrants had much different values than the
current immigrants do. I do agree that immigrants will
help run our economic engine so that we don't become a
dying nation like Japan, but the American standard-of-living
is taking a dive as all of these Third World immigrants
bring their Third World philosophies, diseases, and
values into our nation. I see a big difference between
Polish Jews, Irish, and even Chinese as compared to
immigrants from Africa and Central America - and I don't
mean skin color.
\_ "Third World philosophies, diseases, and values"
Er, WTF?
\_ Diseases like tuberculosis are making a reappearance
thanks to our new immigrant friends. Let's just say
that immigrants from Japan and immigrants from El
Salvador don't bring the same things to the table.
There are very large cultural and religious differences.
There are large differences in attitudes towards the
treatment of women, human rights, education, the role
of government, etc. It is part of the reason why
these countries are they way thay they are. If this is
these countries are the way they are. If this is
not obvious to you I won't waste my time explaining.
\_ You sound exactly like the Know Nothing bigots who
hated the Irish and Italians at the turn of the 19th
century. And the anti-Asian racists who had the
Japanese put in internment camps during WW-II.
The new immigrants will join American society just
fine and renew America with the integration of their
values with ours. This is especially true for Latin
American immigrants. I don't know who all these
African immigrants are that you claim are coming
to America, but America still has a problem with
race that needs working on.
\_ As you point out yourself, America has a problem
with race. It was much easier for Irish to
assimilate than it will be for Africans and
Latinos and this is one of the reasons (but
not the only reason) why.
\_ El Salvador? Are you nuts? The El Salvadoran
immigrant population mostly fled dictators and
death squads, and they're a hell of a lot more
committed to a free and democratic US than you
are. El Salvador is the way it is now because
WE, the US, supported dictators and death
squads. That's a matter of record. Look up
declassified documents on the CIA in El Salvador
in the 60s for more.
\_ Yes, El Salvador would be a First World nation
if not for US involvement in their affairs.
Riiiiight.
\_ Diseases like tb are making a resurgence because
we have a failing health care system. Poor folks
can't afford to get immunized, and rich folks
are buying up Cipro-- and then not using the
right doses to kill whatever bugs they do have,
resulting in drug-resistant strains of tb. Also,
do you know what you have to do to get a visa
in the US? Get a raft of shots and medical
exams. As for illegals, haven't you been
reading that illegal immigrants have been
returning to their countries of origins in
record numbers? If any of this is not obvious
to you, please, by all means, ask for more
explanation.
\_ Yeah, soon there won't be any illegal immigrants
left here. You know, I have a bridge for sale
you might be interested in. |
| 5/23 |
|
| www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/us/politics/30orange.html John Wayne, a bastion for the John Birch Society, a land of orange groves and affluence, the region of California where Republican presidential candidates could always count on a friendly audience. More Photos But this iconic county of 31 million people passed something of a milestone in June. The percentage of registered Republican voters dropped to 43 percent, the lowest level in 70 years. It was the latest sign of the demographic, ethnic and political changes that are transforming the county and challenging long-held views of a region whose colorful -- its detractors might suggest zany -- reputation extends well beyond the borders of this state. At the end of 2009, nearly 45 percent of the county's residents spoke a language other than English at home, according to county officials. this county is teeming with Hispanics, as well as Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese families. Its percentage of foreign-born residents jumped to 30 percent in 2008 from 6 percent in 1970, and visits to some of its corners can feel like a trip to a foreign land. The demographic changes that have swept the county reflect what is happening across the state and much of the nation. It has happened slowly but surely over the course of a generation, becoming increasingly apparent not only in a drive through the 34 cities that fill this sprawling 789-square-mile county south of Los Angeles, but also, most recently, in the results of a presidential election. In Irvine, I sometimes feel like I'm her affirmative action program." Manuel Gomez, the vice chancellor of student affairs at the University of California, Irvine, said the county where he was born 63 years ago is almost unrecognizable to him today. "With diversity comes more cultural voices and political voices," he said. Orange County is not unique in being a reliable Republican region in California. With such world-famous attractions as Disneyland and Mr Schuller's Crystal Cathedral and enclaves like Laguna Beach and Balboa Island, Orange County is as much a symbol in California as it is nationally. Indeed, to some measure, the extent of the county's transformation may seem magnified simply because of the way people thought of it in the past. "The new Orange County is not a repudiation of the old," said Kevin Starr, a California historian. "For all the attention paid the right-wingers there, they never really took up the whole place. Still, by any measure, this is no longer Nixon's Orange County. Here in Santa Ana, a sign on a downtown furniture store the other day advertised a sale in Spanish only; nearly 95 percent of the enrollment in the public schools is Latino. The mayor of Irvine, Sukhee Kang, was born in Korea, making him the first Korean-American to run a major American city. "We have 35 languages spoken in our city," Mr Kang said. A few miles away in Westminster -- where Vietnamese immigrants began arriving about 30 years ago, earning the area the name Little Saigon -- is a dazzling sea of Vietnamese characters on storefronts and billboards (including one for McDonald's). "I've been here for 30 years," said Kinh Tram, 59, as he sat in front of a two-story mall that was crowded with other Vietnamese immigrants. There are pockets of deep poverty spread across a county long identified with suburban affluence and escape from urban Los Angeles. Less than a mile from the entrance to Disneyland is a Latino enclave of low-income housing where trucks arrive every morning, with names like Yucatn Produce, to sell groceries and household goods to people who cannot afford a car to drive to the store. Orange remains a Republican county, at least relatively: an influx of immigrants certainly does not equate to automatic Democratic gains, here or anywhere else across the country. Many Vietnamese immigrants are socially conservative and run for office as Republicans. immigration in recent years, Latino voters were also clearly in play for Republicans. Most elected officials in Orange County are Republicans. But the political texture of this county, which is larger in population than Nevada or Iowa, is changing, and many officials say it is only a matter of time before many Republican officeholders get swept out with the tide. While Republicans have been on a steady decline -- in 1990, they made up 56 percent of the electorate -- the percentage of independent voters, as in much of the state, soared to 20 percent this past June from 86 percent in 1990. President Obama's strong showing here in 2008 continued a nearly 30-year pattern in which the vote for Democratic presidential candidates has steadily increased. Mr Tram, the Vietnamese immigrant in Westminster, said that he had voted for Mr Obama and that he thought most of his Vietnamese friends had done the same. But the changes also reflect how the regional economy has changed, with the shrinking of the aerospace industry, which supported the once dominant, mostly white middle-class community here. That has largely been taken over by service, tourism and high-tech jobs, the result being that this county is a contrast of the extremely wealthy and the lower middle class. Orange County Community Indicators Project, which studies economic and demographic trends in the county. "You have areas of poverty and areas of great affluence and less of a middle." Even fans of the recent hit television series "The OC," whose main characters were prosperous white residents of Newport Beach, got little hint of the diversity of the region. "The county is becoming more like California," Mr Ruane said. "The national image that it is an entirely conservative and entirely Republican county is wrong. Voter registration patterns and voting have shifted as a result of these demographic shifts." A version of this article appeared in print on August 30, 2010, on page A12 of the New York edition. Real Estate Advertisements Find your dream home with The New York Times Real Estate Fan The New York Times on Facebook The new issue of T is here See the news in the making. |