See America's Future, Look West

Quote of the day:
“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong?’ Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night.’"
--Charles M. Schulz

Quote of the day no. 2:
“In California, we’re the precursor of what’s projected to be happening for the rest of the country for the next half century.”
--John Weeks, director of San Diego State University’s International Population Center

On February 12, the San Diego Union Tribune reported on a forecast by Pew Research Center that, by 2050, America will “look much like California does today as it morphs into a far more racially and ethnically diverse nation....” The U-T said that “most of its population growth [will come from] immigrants and their offspring.”

I have been maintaining since just after I moved here in 1978 that for America to see its future, all it had to do was look at California. This is true for all kinds of trends, including population makeup.

This is why it always seems so ill-informed and snooty to hear the rest of the country dismiss this state as everything from a collection of fruits and nuts to a bastion of sodomites and immoral Hollywood liberals.

What is most curious to me is how such statements combine good-natured teasing with both envy and genuine loathing. I think many people realize perfectly well that California is a vision of their future, and they don’t like what they see.

All I can say is, too bad. Like it or not, this is your future. Get used to it. Better yet, begin to appreciate that California, while it has its problems, is a vibrant, widely diverse, very interesting and innovative place.

Isn’t that what America is supposed to be?