One word that was strangely missing from your excellent article on the conservative politics of northern Idaho was “race” (“Right-wing Migration,” HCN, 5/13/13). I have no hard data on this, but I’d guess that the increasing diversity in Southern California is a major reason a lot of right-wingers from Orange County moved to a mostly white region. The fact that Bob Pedersen left after the Rodney King riots alludes to this, without coming out and saying it. The racial demographics of this country are changing, and some people just aren’t comfortable with that.
John Larmer
Mill Valley, California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline What about race?.
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