Let’s suppose that Michigan were another country. A while back I lived there for 10 years, yet I know very little about Michigan politics and less about the people who live there, except that like everyone else, Michiganders are frequently full of mishigas.
San Francisco is about 450 miles north of Los Angeles, and I’ve been there several times. Can I tell you why it’s a center for the most liberal politics in the country? No, I can’t. Nor can I tell you why Orange County, home of Disneyland, and about 60 miles east of L.A. is a bastion of conservative and ultra-conservative politics.
No, travel does not a foreign policy expert make. Years of study helps, but it doesn’t make one a complete expert either. Just look at Bush’s so-called experts who haven’t made one correct call yet.
And while a country’s history doesn’t change, the mindset of its people can have nuanced changes and their politics can change with time. The California of today where I live, isn’t the California of 30 years ago.
Like the desert sands of Southern California, our political philosophies are constantly shifting.
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