What psychologists call cognitive dissonance can occur when people encounter new information or experiences that conflict with their preexisting beliefs. For many long-time Santa Clarita Republicans, this happened when they saw thousands of people at the “No Kings” protest. It was a level of civic engagement that challenged their assumptions about our community.
Once upon a time, there probably weren’t enough Democrats in Santa Clarita to fill the Original Saugus Café. But political landscapes rarely stay frozen in time. All of us must eventually come to terms with circumstances that are very different from when we first arrived here, whenever that may have been.
I saw cognitive dissonance last year at a gathering to hear our district’s Rep. George Whitesides speak. I spoke to a longtime local couple. She was a Democrat, he a Republican. When I remarked that Republicans no longer had an automatic claim to elective state or national office in our district, he appeared genuinely confused. It wasn’t anger; it was a disbelief that the political reality he remembered had changed.
The same can hold true for Democrats. There is a famous story about a well-known New York film critic who could not believe that Richard Nixon had won the presidency because no one she knew had voted for him.
There is nothing inherently wrong with holding strong beliefs. But history shows how difficult it can be to recognize social and political change while living through it. At one time, many Americans could not understand the demand for women’s suffrage. The idea of women voting was outside their experience.
That same confusion, aka cognitive dissonance, exists today. Some Santa Clarita residents ask where the “No Kings” protesters were from.
We are your neighbors. We are from here.
Philip Wasserman
Stevenson Ranch
