Once upon a time, there was a tropical paradise where all were welcome to claim their slice of the American Dream. They settled into their ranch houses with perpetually green lawns; palm trees lined the wide boulevards; the people frolicked year-round on the sunny beaches. In newly built planned communities, planned lives could unfold in peace, far from the insidious influence of the decaying city centers of the East.
Jobs were plentiful. World-class universities were on their doorstep, affordable with just a minimum-wage job. A man could step across the street from his home and pluck a ripe orange from the groves. A boy could safely ride his bike from Long Beach to Knott’s Berry Farm along quiet roads lined by endless dairy farms. It was an idyllic place and time, a time of effortless wonder and magic, of freedom and individual initiative, and of promising new politicians.
And everybody voted for Republicans.
In reality, large portions of Southern California have indeed been dominated by conservative politics for decades, helping to push the state of California, and the nation as well, to the right. The epicenter, of course, was Orange County, home of Richard Nixon, and, as Ronald Reagan so famously put it, “The place that I've often described as 'where the Republicans go before they die.'”
Free enterprise über alles, law’n’order, cutting taxes as a means to limit government services for “those people,” and the scapegoating and targeting of minorities all played a prominent role here, where Republicans once fantasized they could create the perfect conservative state. But as with all fantasies, it was not meant to be.
It is especially delicious, then, to watch the real-time collapse of the Republican Dream in California—and specifically Orange County— as the state party’s power shrivels into a desiccated lump of greenish oatmeal. Meanwhile, California as a whole enjoys its status as one of the most diverse and dynamic states in the country, with a thriving combination of culture and creativity—and, yes, taco stands on many corners, if not every one—making it one of the most desired regions in the world in which to live, work, or play.
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