An example of what Madison describes in Federalist 10. Majorities are far more likely to form at the local level, than the state or national level.
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Times are grim in the cowboy far north of California. Wildfires rage. Covid-19 lingers. Drought has stripped most of the snow from Mount Shasta and shrunk Shasta Lake.
“We’ve been duped!” one resident charged during an epic six-hour debate in July over the certified results of the June primary election. “We need to get rid of all electronics in our voting!” another exhorted during a two-hour August outcry over “rigged” equipment. This week, a woman in a “We, the People” T-shirt invoked David and Goliath, and a self-described citizen journalist said voters were being controlled via nasal swabs coated with “nano smart dust” in Covid-19 tests.
“This is a national moment,” said a woman warning that November’s election could be hijacked by Wi-Fi. “We’re going to keep coming back till we get what we want.”
In most of California, their claims would have been dismissed immediately: State law prohibits most of the election reviews they have called for and there has been no evidence of voter fraud in the primary election. But Shasta County, population 180,000, has become a riveting California exception, a red pocket where far-right activists aligned with former President Donald J. Trump have taken charge of a government long overseen by establishment conservatives.
In February, an alliance of MAGA activists, secessionists, vaccine resisters and self-described militia members ousted a longtime board member and won a 3-2 majority on Shasta County’s all-Republican — but officially nonpartisan — main governing body. Since then, the most populous county in California’s upper reaches has been a case study in the forces reshaping the Republican Party and governance in conservative parts of the country.
The health officer has been fired, the chief executive has quit, the head of the largest county department has retired, and the county has had difficulty hiring full-time replacements. The board has issued a declaration opposing state vaccine mandates.
