The political power is in northern California even though they have a smaller population than southern California. The districts are drawn in such away to keep republicans at a disadvantage in the senate. Therefore we get more crazy extreme left wing people making laws due to the politics of Sacramento, Berkelely and San Francisco.
In response to the previous post, I'll just leave this here. California Citizens Redistricting Commission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thank you, Mawnck! It should be noted that LA also votes along the same lines as "Northern California" (i.e. San Francisco). It should also be noted that the further north you go, outside of the Bay Area, the state swings "red." (see: Redding & "The State of Jefferson"). Just the same way that as you go south of LA, the state swings "red." The urban areas are predominantly Democrat-leaning, the rural are Republican-leaning. Signed, "a crazy left-wing person" from the Bay Area (who couldn't be happier with the make-up of our state government....)
Is Orange County still the bastion of Republicanism it once was? Or has there been a shift there at all?
I am a "crazy left-wing person" living in one of those red rural areas. (Think pitchforks and torches.) Thank goodness for the large liberal cities. (Even though the thought of living in one gives me hives.) It does bother me that, thanks to the electoral college; presidential votes in California don't count for much.
We appeal to citizens by telling them voting is a deeply personal, essentially sacred process that should reflect how they feel. Everyone behaves as if their right to vote entitles them to have us all understand their choice and respect it, even if they write in Lindsay Lohan or God or that moldy leftover casserole they forgot about in the fridge. But yeah, I don't respect it or understand it because it's ignorant and does not reflect the reality of our political process. We've deified voting to get people to the ballot box. But it's just not like that. Our system presents two people who can win. Your vote should be a pragmatic choice between those two people, end of story. Sorry, none of us are all that special and no one cares about your deeply principled refusal to cast a ballot for anyone but someone who you agree w/ at least 95% of the time or otherwise American politics is in the toilet and our system is just the worst. No. Vote for someone who can win and isn't evil. In this election, that leaves you with one really obvious option.