By Jim Kempton
By Jim Kempton
Almost 12 percent of Americans reside in California.
It’s the most productive, inventive, governmentally efficient state in the union. Not only the most populous state (by a wide margin), but also more citizens live here than in the least populated 22 states combined. You would think we Californians would be instrumental in the presidential nominations from both major parties. But in reality, when choosing our chief executive candidates, Iowa’s tiny electorate has a much bigger say.
What’s up with that? Iowa has 3 million inhabitants—less than 1 percent of U.S. residents. Yet because they hold the first national primary, every single coffee shop, bowling alley or American Legion hall becomes preeminent. Every homeowners’ association, PTA, business group, Elks Club, church congregation or League of Women Voters is canvassed, coddled, cosseted and cooed over as if they were critical to the nation’s economic, cultural and political life support.
Meanwhile, Orange County, with just more than 3 million residents, has a populace equal to Iowa. In fact, we have a larger gross national product than those last 20 states put together. Iowa grows corn. Orange County grows the nation’s sixth largest county economy. We pioneered biotech, built the lifestyle industry and host hundreds of corporate headquarters as well as seven of the nation’s Fortune 500 companies. Did anybody ever ask us what we thought about the candidates or the issues?
This seemingly forgotten California supplies more than half the nation’s fruits and vegetables, most of its technology and nearly all of its movies. We have led the world in computer science, aerospace, medical advances and environmental progress. Are California’s concerns ever considered by the political front-runners?
Consider this: excluding Florida, the five most important primaries are Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Colorado—which combined includes a whopping 3.5 percent of the U.S. population. So with more than three times as many voters here in the Golden State than in all those primary states put together, we let Iowa determine our presidential contenders.
The current system provides the opportunity for nearly every state to vote in primaries before California. By the time candidates are campaigning here, the choices are already firmly set. The result is that the most populous, successful, efficient, entrepreneurial, innovative state in the nation is essentially shut out of the electoral process of choosing our presidential nominees.
I’m not resentful that other states that have fewer people than Orange County put their primaries at the front of the list. I don’t even mind the sometimes comical horserace that passes for a selection method. But “by George,” as Jefferson used to say to Madison, the 38 million proud, successful Americans in California ought to somehow have their voices heard too.
Jim Kempton is a writer and Orange County resident who hopes that the half of Americans who read newspapers is the same half that votes for candidates before California gets a chance.
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