Republican Parties of the Western states: Why so conservative?

[freepcrusher]

the Western states were traditionally the base of conservatism republicanism. Looking at old almanacs, the republicans in upstate California, Oregon, California were mostly of the LaFollette mold. Think of guys like McCloskey, Hatfield, Packwood, Pritchard etc.


The parts of the west known as the sunbelt or areas with large mormon populations was where the bulk of the far right guys were. Even 30 years ago, there were a lot of far right guys from the west:

Bob Dornan
Bill Dannemeyer
Carlos Moorhead
David Dreier (especially early in his career)
Duncan Hunter Sr
Dan Lungren
Paul Laxalt
Barry Goldwater Sr and Jr
Bob Stump
Eldon Rudd
Orrin Hatch
Jake Garn
Steve Symms
James McClure
James Hansen
Larry Craig
Malcolm Wallop
Bill Armstrong

[freepcrusher]

Because moderate Republicans don't exist anymore and the GOP base is coming from far right areas. It's not like California has any moderate Bay Area Republicans to balance it out anymore for example.

I suppose that's true, yeah. Also, the Bay Area used to have some quite conservative areas. Key words being, used to.

that's not really true except for maybe the Tri Valley area. If I recall, they elected a far right congressman for a few years in the 90s (Baker).

[freepcrusher]

Because moderate Republicans don't exist anymore and the GOP base is coming from far right areas. It's not like California has any moderate Bay Area Republicans to balance it out anymore for example.

I suppose that's true, yeah. Also, the Bay Area used to have some quite conservative areas. Key words being, used to.

that's not really true except for maybe the Tri Valley area. If I recall, they elected a far right congressman for a few years in the 90s (Baker).

Uh, heard of Charles Gubser? He was pretty darned conservative for his time, especially on the military. Represented San Jose and other parts of Santa Clara County from the 50s o the 70s.

I always found it interesting how in Silicon Valley you had someone like Gubser whose voting record was close to the median republican (and very conservative by bay area standards) and right next door was Don Edwards, who was a fellow traveler.

[freepcrusher]

The California GOP is now essentially a social club for Inland Empire fundies.
 Keep it up and you won't be able to find Republicans in Colorado other than the Bible thumpers in Fort Collins and the farmers in the eastern plains.

if you look at most maps, those two areas you mentioned are not fundie strongholds. Granted, there might be a lot of under-the-radar "independent" churches that are defacto fundie but I always thought that the Inland Empire was a mix between catholic, mainline and a lot of unchurched. Fort Collins I'd guess would be a mix between mainline protestants and the unchurched.

[freepcrusher]

The California GOP is now essentially a social club for Inland Empire fundies.
 Keep it up and you won't be able to find Republicans in Colorado other than the Bible thumpers in Fort Collins and the farmers in the eastern plains.

if you look at most maps, those two areas you mentioned are not fundie strongholds. Granted, there might be a lot of under-the-radar "independent" churches that are defacto fundie but I always thought that the Inland Empire was a mix between catholic, mainline and a lot of unchurched. Fort Collins I'd guess would be a mix between mainline protestants and the unchurched.

The inland empire certainly has a lot of fundie influence. And yes, lots of conservative Catholics as well. The same goes for a lot of Southern California actually.

there is no county in CA where more than ten percent of the population is baptist
http://bowdenblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/bible_belt_map_baptist.gif

[freepcrusher]

The California GOP is now essentially a social club for Inland Empire fundies.
 Keep it up and you won't be able to find Republicans in Colorado other than the Bible thumpers in Fort Collins and the farmers in the eastern plains.

if you look at most maps, those two areas you mentioned are not fundie strongholds. Granted, there might be a lot of under-the-radar "independent" churches that are defacto fundie but I always thought that the Inland Empire was a mix between catholic, mainline and a lot of unchurched. Fort Collins I'd guess would be a mix between mainline protestants and the unchurched.

The inland empire certainly has a lot of fundie influence. And yes, lots of conservative Catholics as well. The same goes for a lot of Southern California actually.

there is no county in CA where more than ten percent of the population is baptist
http://bowdenblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/bible_belt_map_baptist.gif

Going by this logic, you don't think rural North Dakota is socially conservative either?

I was going to mention that fundies in California aren't southern baptists, but didn't think it would be necessary. Guess I was wrong. There are plenty of conservative evangelicals and socially conservative catholics in California. They just don't live in West LA. And many of the socially conservative catholics vote Democrat.

well I do think that the IE is a fairly socon place. Prop 8 did very well there. It seems like back when LA County was whiter, I would assume that there would be a lot of interracial polarization with the South Bay, Gateway Cities and SGV whites being republican and the West LA whites voting heavily democrat. I think part of that would be from the type of people who originally settled those areas.

[freepcrusher]

does anyone here agree with me that Los Angeles county sort of has an east west divide? The western part is/was culturally more northeastern while the east side is/was culturally more like Missouri or Arkansas. That's obviously a hasty generalization but back when the area was mostly white, would you agree?