California Is Defined By Cultural Changes Accompanying Its Enormous Growth

The California Department of Finance pegged state growth at almost 438,000 new residents for the calendar year ending July 1, 2007, while the Census Bureau reported 300,000 residents for a total of 37 million people – one million less than the state's count.

"Whatever the true figure, the new data are another reminder that California remains an ever-expanding and ever-changing society, and dealing with that fact is its most important and most neglected political issue.

The single most important factor in California's population growth is a continued high rate of births. Baby production declined somewhat in the 1990s, thanks largely to a severe recession that propelled more than a million Californians to leave the state in that decade, but has picked up sharply in this decade. And that means that the leveling-off of school enrollment – and even declines in some communities – will end soon as a new wave of youngsters hits the classroom.

When one drills into the data, the fuller dimension of California's population growth – the absolutely unique level of cultural and ethnic diversity it has generated – becomes evident.

The state's white population is continuing to decline, at least in proportionate terms, and already is well below 50 percent, while Latino and Asian American communities expand, driven by high immigration and/or birth rates...Immigration itself is the single most important issue to California voters, several polls have established, and we have seen sharp political clashes over it and such issues as affirmative action and bilingual education.

Growth and cultural change, moreover, when coupled with economic evolution, drive both the state's perpetual budget crisis and the angst over extending health insurance to millions of working poor families."

Thanks to Patricia Matejcek