At first I wasn’t going to reply to Brian Baker’s column – “We are seeing the Signs” (April 20) – but after wading through the excesses of verbiage several times I concluded all he’s bleating about is “white flight” and that you should love the NRA (another issue); after all, that’s what Santa Clarita is all about.
To begin with, if one moved to Santa Clarita back in the ‘80’s, as Baker claims he did, that was “white flight,” and we know what that implies. Nothing more need be said on that score.
Now, Baker laments the influx of “Leftists (who) move to conservative areas to enjoy a better lifestyle than the place they’re leaving behind, but then try to impose the same political agenda.”
Let me pose a question, did Baker abandon his political beliefs when he moved to this area some thirty years ago, to embrace a conservative viewpoint, or did he bring his old beliefs with him? I doubt that he abandoned his former beliefs for the beliefs prevalent in the area when he moved here, which was then predominantly conservative.
So, why should any newcomers abandon their beliefs when they move here, even though those beliefs now prove to be contrary to Baker’s? I ought to know since I moved to this area two years ago, and I’m not alone. On the block where I live, we have multi-generational families, some with various cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds, and yes, even foreigners. Oh, and we all get along.
That spells diversity – liberalism; not lock-step conservatism. These people are the new face of a changing Santa Clarita. As the demographics of the area correspondingly change, so will political change. What Baker laments is his longing for what was, not what now is.
Howard H. Gething
Santa Clarita
