Left Coast of the Country

California – the beautiful “left coast” of the country, pic: geology.com

I live in Silicon Valley and that choice of location seems to reflect my political leanings very well: I am a liberal from the left coast – and with that tend to fall into the category “socialist” or even “commie” for most of the rest of the nation.  When I go back to Germany my political views put me squarely with the CDU, that is, the center-right party, not the social democrats (this realization came to me as a shock as all my life I considered myself a social democrat but the reality just does not support that claim anymore).  I say “center-right” with the utmost caution because that party is still to the left of where the modern day democrats are in the US, at least on things like social welfare issues.

So every time I cross the Atlantic somehow I am morphing – mostly unbeknownst to me – into a different person, the bleeding heart liberal turns into a social hard ass who thinks, for example, that it is unfair and counterproductive to provide as many incentives as Germany does for people to remain unemployed and to exploit the system.

When here in the US,  on the other hand, we get in trouble for voicing radical opinions like that a society should be able and willing to care for its weakest and most frail without asking “What have you done for me lately?”, without telling them to get their shit together and stop being a parasite on society and without any hint to any religion.

Maybe that explains why our answer to the question “where do you live?” when somebody in Germany or actually Europe asks us always is “California”.  Occasionally – when I have the impression I am dealing with somebody geographically advanced – I will say  “San Francisco Bay Area” or “Silicon Valley”.  However, never will I say America or the United States.

It would just raise too many questions.