Heart Talk

3
714

A Citadel Has Fallen

 

By James Utt
By James Utt

On Nov. 8, Hillary Clinton became the fifth presidential candidate to win the popular vote, yet lose the election because of the dinosaur in our Constitution known as the Electoral College.

Only time will tell if massive walls will be built, trade agreements scrapped, or “beautiful” manufacturing jobs will reappear. Who knows? Perhaps President-elect Trump will make America greater. Perhaps not. That is not the issue I address in this column.

A tectonic shift occurred in the election that might provide the disheartened Democrats of Laguna Beach and other regions of our county a ray of sunshine. Orange County voted for Hillary Clinton by a margin of 5 percent. Up until this week, no other county in California had consistently voted Republican. It was 1936 when Democrats last came out on top, a run of 80 years. Since then, Democrats have been political roadkill. In 1980 and 1984 President Reagan even won the county by 50 points. But, as Bob Dylan sang, “The times, they are a changin’.”

Actually, we could sing, “The demographics, they are a changin’ .”

Not long ago a dear friend said to me, “What must it be like to live in an all white Orange County, if you are not white yourself?” Now, this person is smart, but unaware of the changing face of Orange County. In 1990, whites made up two thirds of the county’s population. Since I am pretty old, I can remember even further back to the 1950s and 1960s, when the percentage was even higher. I graduated from Tustin High in 1965 and our class of 700 graduates was as white as the driven snow.

Visit Tustin High today and you will see quite a different student body. The sixth most populated county in the United States has changed dramatically. This has had political consequences.

With its agricultural roots and unwelcoming attitude toward unions, our county was fertile ground for strong Republicanism. An influx of conservative midwesterners further cemented this trend.

Charismatic conservative religious leaders set up shop. The county also became home to many in aerospace and defense industries. It was a potent mixture that made us one of the most reliable Republican citadels in the nation. When the orange groves began to give way to suburban homes, they were populated by families whose mothers stayed home. These women were a long way from believing Gloria Steinem’s dictum, “A woman should be able to have sex before marriage and a job after.”

That was then. The most recent Orange County census information is stunning. Whites make up only 44% of our population, while Hispanics come in at 37%, Asians at 17%, and African Africans, never a large presence here, are still only 2%. The last three of these demographic groups tend to vote for Democrats. Those suburban women, who used to be content with being homemakers, are now more likely to be college educated and work outside the home. They are also less likely to be receptive to remarks that the next president said several years ago to ABC News, that putting a wife to work was a “dangerous” thing. He went on to say, “….I don’t want to sound too much like a chauvinist, but when I come home and dinner’s not on the table, I go through the roof.”

Granted Mr Trump said these things some years ago, but since his campaign dug up everything Hillary Clinton ever said, I think it only fair we apply the same standard to him.

When the British were defeated at the Battle of Yorktown, thus ensuring a colonial victory in the Revolutionary War, their band played “The World Turned Upside Down.” To a small degree that is what has happened to the Orange County Republican Party.

Democrats, feel free to party like it is 1936!

 

James Utt is a registered independent who has voted for Republicans in some past presidential elections.

Share this:

3 COMMENTS

  1. I was pleasantly surprised that OC voted blue this election. Thank you for the article and hopefully this trend will continue!

  2. Interesting breakdown of the population of Orange County. I wonder what your Grandfather would think of the recent election?

  3. I was heartened by the news that Orange County had gone ‘blue’ this election cycle and read with interest the demographic breakdown you uncovered that helps me understand this change. I hope you keep writing about our town in the face of the greater national narrative – you do us all a service in this – whether we bend the story or are caught up in it. Nicely done.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here