LA Times: For Democrats in California, a generational shift pulls the party left.....

[steve2470]

For Democrats in California, a generational shift pulls the party left, with danger and opportunity ahead

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-california-democrats-analysis-20170522-story.html

For decades, Democratic politics in the nation’s most populous state has been overseen by a quintet of leaders who helped propel California from reliably Republican to dominantly Democratic.

To outsiders, they were the West Coast liberals whom conservatives love to hate — stereotyped as chardonnay-sipping, tree-hugging, near-socialists who, were it geologically possible, would push the state so far left it would plunk into the Pacific. In truth, they have exerted a moderating force on Democrats here.

Their reign effectively ended at this weekend’s state party convention, part of a shift both generational and ideological that is altering power across the country and in the nation’s biggest Democratic state. Whoever fills the vacuum will answer defining questions: How far left will the California Democratic Party now go? Will its movement backfire?

Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, ages 79 and 83, respectively, didn’t show up at the convention. Former Sen. Barbara Boxer, 76, who left office in January, skipped it as well. State party chief John Burton, 84, was heralded in large part because he was leaving for retirement.


I'd be interested in hearing a critique of this article by our CA DU'ers.

[procon]

1. Kamala Harris looks like the new leadership face in the Democratic Party.

She only recently caught my attention, but I like what I see and I think she will be just as interesting on the national stage as she is in our state. The younger population is more liberal and they are energized to bring about a new direction for California, and like they say, as goes California, so goes the nation. The next generation is here, and they are the driving force pushing for typical socialist issues like Medicare-for-all healthcare plans and free college, and working to get corporate money out of politics.