Extrapolating information from the census bureau, the current population of California is estimated at approximately 38 million people. That is a lot of people. It is nearly 12 million more than the second most populated state of Texas, and almost twice the population of New York with the third highest. It is also a huge variety of people. Some have made our nation a better place and some have made it a worse place.
What if the Big One hit (you know, the big earthquake that is long overdue and causes special effects gurus to get all giddy just thinking about it) without warning and it was bigger than anyone every expected? What if all those border lines on maps were actually fault lines and the Big One caused the entire geographic entity known as California to separate from the other contiguous forty-seven states, becoming the floor of the Pacific Ocean's expansion eastward? Thirty-eight million people gone.
How many of them would we miss? Would our nation be any worse off? After all, there would be no recovery efforts, no disaster relief, and no epidemics spreading to the rest of us because the Golden State and all its contents would be gone—sealed under numerous thermoclines of cold salt water. And just think: The federal government would no longer have the financial burden of the federally maintain items such as prisons, interstates, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, etc.
Apart from the personal loss of irreplaceable loved ones, the nation as a whole would move on. Some places would even thrive. After all, someone has to take up the slack when we lose Hollywood, the Central California bread basket, numerous military installations, Yosemite, and the Dodgers. Las Vegas alone would probably grow ten-fold, building enumerable beach front resorts and amusement parks to compliment its current money magnets.
Oh, sure, some of you are thinking, "How can you be so callous about the loss of 38 million people? Don't you have a heart?" Of course I do but, trust me, we will get over it. We have been hardening our hearts and consciences for this loss since January 22, 1973. Forty years of ignoring, defending, and even funding the loss of 55 million human lives has left us in great shape to ignore this smaller sum. So we really shouldn't get all worked up over the potential loss of another 38 million, should we?
Yesterday, January 22, 2013 marked the fortieth anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, legalizing abortion in the U.S.A. and there have been over 55 million "legal" abortions* since then. 55 million. FIFTY-FIVE MILLION!!! Those are people…babies who were never given a choice…EVER! And we sing and say, "God bless America!" Can anyone come up with 55 million reasons that are each more important than each of the more than 55 million completely innocent individuals we have murdered? I have not been able to come up with even one.
Out of deference to all the precious citizens of California, my home state and my daughter's current state, I would suggest that we could substitute the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, and Indiana. There probably isn't a remotely feasible scenario that would wipe them out at the same time, leaving the rest of the nation in tact but their combined populations would be pretty close to California's, and I don't think I have any close relatives in those states so… Oh, wait…some of you do have relatives in one or more of those states. Actually, I doubt there is any possible combination of states by which we could make this less personal (and I'm sure not going to include Washington State). But we can try. We've spent forty years trying to convince ourselves that it isn't personal.
That we do not sense a nationwide shame only increases the reality of that shame.
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*The abortion count is based on data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. (http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=39563)
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