First published on the Pacific Progressive website January 10, 2018
Why is it a "Pacific" Message???
The word "Pacific" is included in The Progressive Pacific Message because the beaches of the four Pacific States - Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, and California - are on the Pacific Ocean. This is a different orientation culturally resulting in:
- a history based upon not being anywhere near the Atlantic Ocean,
- an economy built upon Pacific trade routes,
- a majority population that includes persons who identify themselves as Hispanics, Asian, Indigenous, Black, and/or Mixed Race, and
- for the second time in a century, inadequate defense preparation and activities because of an Atlantic-focused myopia.
- attack on the human rights of the 51 million people of the Pacific States,
- denial of the Progressive beliefs of the Pacific States majority,
- assault on the economy of the Pacific States, and
- failure to provide defense planning to protect the Pacific States.
Population by Race/Ethnicity
Additionally, the traditional Progressive Message that...individual freedom is bound to the personal responsibility of all citizens to assure equitable communities...still remains a dominant value in the Pacific States. Thus it is those in the Pacific States who are most likely to advocate for that Message.
Before exploring...
- how American Progressivism was lost and
- how to advocate for its restoration,
- Consider that the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 59-57 because...
- the power of the Atlantic seaboard states would be threatened by the new citizens in the West, whose political and economic priorities were bound to conflict with with those of East Coast merchants and bankers, and
- the Atlantic seaboard voters (white male landowners) opposed the granting citizenship to the Catholic French and Spanish speaking residents, as well as free Black residents, of New Orleans as the treaty required.
- Consider that California has a larger Hispanic population than 44 other states each have people (yes, total people, everyone in each of those states) and a larger Asian population than 25 other states have people; non-Hispanic white people and black people* (the 13 Colonies Races) together make up only 39% of California's population.
- Consider that in Hawaii non-Hispanic white people and black people* together (the 13 Colonies Races) make up only 20% of the population and that Asian residents make up 36% of the population.
- Consider the pie charts without the white and black segments, the 13 Colonies Races.*
- Consider that imports and exports at the 28 ports along the West Coast totaled over $630 billion in 2014, including smaller ones like Kalama , Washington (total 2014 trade $3.0 billion, top export Soybeans, top import Rolled iron and steel); and consider that the voters in states like Michigan which has a population that is 88% 13 Colonies Races have abandoned trade patterns and proposals that benefit such ports.
- Consider the terrorist threat that so worries those East of the Intercontinental Divide. The fact is the country with the largest Muslim population in the world is a Pacific Rim country. The country which provides the most crew members on merchant ships delivering goods - both necessities and fripperies - to the United is home to the worlds 30th largest Muslim population (larger than Somalia) is a Pacific Rim Country that has been engaged in a war with the Islamic State East Asia (ISEA) for two decades in which U.S. troops participated from 2002 to 2015; most 13-Colonies-Race Americans are ignorant of these facts.
- Regarding a significant military threat, in addition to China and Russia which are both Pacific Rim countries, North Korea has had the ability to attack the Pacific States with missiles since the beginning of the 21st Century, first with submarines and by 2013 with ICBM's.
The Pacific States came with views west from San Francisco towards China, North from Seattle towards what was originally Russian Alaska, and South from San Diego towards Mexico. You can walk the Pacific Coast of the continent from the Southern tip of Chile to Alaska. You can sail from a harbor directly across an ocean to Japan, North Korea, or China because it is the Pacific Ocean. Yes, it is 2,827 driving miles from San Diego east to New York City. But, it's also only 2,819 driving miles from San Diego, California, to San Salvador, El Salvador. Here we are in the 21st Century and here are some troubling aspects of the worldview from the Pacific States:
- The history of the Pacific States is ignored by Americans living east of the Transcontinental Divide who have a North Atlantic cultural orientation and who misrepresent their region's history.
- The history derived from the 18th Century U.S. policies of slavery, religious bigotry, and genocide is misrepresented, literally resulting in discrimination and recriminations against Pacific State people who protest established U.S. politicians and institutions continuing those misrepresentations.
- An extreme cultural separation from those east of the Transcontinental Divide exists resulting in continuing discrimination against Pacific State residents the majority of whom are descendants of indigenous peoples of the Americas and the Pacific and Asian immigrants.
- The economies of the Pacific States are under attack from Americans who live east of the Transcontinental Divide.
- The defense of the Pacific States, through both strategies in international relations and the military, ranges from secondary-in-importance to incompetent to non-existent.
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*In a future post, we will explore the fact is that the 1790 Census counted white males and white females separately, plus all other free persons in a single category, and slaves in a single category. The United States Constitution Article 1 Section 8 also did not recognize indigenous people as being part of the new country. Before the Civil War most Black Americans were slaves but were included along with White in 1790 as a "13 Colonies Race." For purposes of allocating among the States seats in the House of Representatives, a slave was recognized by the United States Constitution Article 1 Section 8 as three-fifths of a person which endorsed the concept of black persons as less than persons, officially permitting white folks a point of reference - a black person is 60% of a real human. Today three U.S. States have majority populations that do not include their "13 Colonies Races" residents. Two are Pacific States and the other state is New Mexico.
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