Tthe known conservativism of Northern San Diego County
http://www.insidesocal.com/friendlyfire/2007/10/glen_beck_accidentally_hates_c.htmlChris scolded me in a recent comment for what he thinks is an unfair characterization of Northern San Diego County in my Glen Beck post in which I say the area is super conservative. I respond, what planet is he on? It's not a secret. In fact, it's something the area's residents are proud of. To assure him that it's not a random assessment (and in fact something I'm intimately familiar with as I'm from San Diego) I bring you these factoids about the area that is getting the heck burnt out of it right now.
= Fallbrook, one of the city's in No,. SD was for decades the home base of Tom Metzger and his White Aryan Resistance. He picked Fallbrook as a base for his racist movement because of the sympathy he found in the region which even then was engaging in anti-Mexican events.
= In 2006, the city council of Escondido, in northern San Diego County enacted an ordinance barring landlords from renting to illegal immigrants. It was extremely contentious debate that brought out a lot of immigrant bashing in the name of Americanism.
= Indeed, the area has gotten even more conservative in recent decades. The 50th congressional district, which includes alot fo the north county coast, used to be strongly democratic. Btu in 1992, this district elected Randy "Duke" Cunningham and even gave him a victory shrotly before the scandal the brought him down unfolded. The disgraced congressman resigned after admitting to taking millions in bribe from defense contractors.
In the last election, George Bush got 55 percent of the vote even though the district had been gerrymandered to include the more liberal parts of La Jolla.
= Lawrence Welk Village, a resort near Escondido, doesn't in and of itself signify conservativeness, unless you equate golf and affluence with conservatism. But I love the name and wanted to mention it.
= A big part of this region is the Marine base at Camp Pendelton. As such many current and former military families have settled in the surrounding communities which are adjacent to the base and was pretty affordable up until the last few years.
The point is that this is a region and a group of people that Beck would never accuse of hating America except by accident.
Dear Mariel,
I no more denied the conservatism of North San Diego than I deny the liberalism of Malibu.
The purpose of my comment was to take you to task for your suggestion that racism is a telltale sign of conservatism -- a suggestion you have perpetuated with this newest post. In my view, this is just as pernicious as the suggestion that liberalism is anti-American. I also faulted you for your suggestion that meanness is inherently conservative.
If it's wrong for Beck to smear his political opponents this way, then it's wrong for the rest of us, too.
Best,
Chris