Left Coast
Encyclopedia
Left Coast is a political expression that implies that the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
leans politically
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
to the left or the expression can refer to states that lean politically left. The implication is that the states of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and Washington (particularly, the coastal counties and cities within those states) vote predictably for the liberal Democratic Party, or that the people who live there have a generally more liberal attitude than the rest of the country. The phrase plays on the fact that the west coast of the US is on the left of the contiguous 48 states when viewing a map with north oriented upwards.
In America, the expression is used pejoratively by right-leaning people, but proudly by people on the left. Conservative NewsMax.com columnist James Hirsen writes the "Left Coast Report," which humorously puts down Hollywood celebrities and their scandals as well, as providing conservative political commentary. He has also written a book, Tales from the Left Coast: True Stories of Hollywood Stars and Their Outrageous Politics. On the other side, the term is used by cartoonist Ted Rall
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...
as the name of his left-leaning political comic strip. Writer, voiceover actor, and gay rights activist Ben Patrick Johnson
Ben Patrick Johnson
Ben Patrick Johnson is an American voice-over actor, author and blogger, Foundation Director, and human rights activist.-Voice-overs:...
calls his video blog Life on the Left Coast. Fundraiser and CEO of San Francisco-based nonprofit Tides
Tides Center
Tides Center is a non-profit organization in the United States which provides fiscal sponsorship for progressive groups. Tides Center is classified a 501 tax-exempt organization by the IRS...
, Drummond Pike
Drummond Pike
Drummond Pike is an American philanthropist, activist and social entrepreneur. He founded Tides Foundation in 1976 and served as CEO of Tides for 34 years...
, maintains a CEO blog entitled Notes from the Left Coast.
The term is also used in a neutral or non-political sense by some West Coast businesses.
In Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the coastal strip of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, including Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
, is also referred to as the Left Coast. The use of the term left coast is not usually pejorative. For example, at the Order of British Columbia
Order of British Columbia
The Order of British Columbia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Bill Vander Zalm, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...
Investiture
Investiture
Investiture, from the Latin is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent...
of painter Edward John Hughes
E. J. Hughes
Edward John Hughes, CM, OBC was a Canadian artist.Hughes was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and spent a significant part of his childood in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Raised during the Depression he studied at the Vancouver School of Applied Art and Design where he graduated in 1933...
, by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia is the viceregal representative in British Columbia of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared with equally the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest...
Iona Campagnolo
Iona Campagnolo
Iona Campagnolo, is a Canadian politician, and was the first woman and 27th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Prior to becoming Lieutenant Governor she was a Canadian politician and cabinet member in the Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.-Career:Born Iona Victoria Hardy...
in April 2006, she stated, "We have all occasionally heard of our beloved coast dismissed as the 'wet coast', the 'left' coast, even the 'rain coast', yet for most of us, these are 'terms of endearment'..." .
Related topics
- Coastal CaliforniaCoastal CaliforniaCoastal California refers to the coastal regions of the US state of California. The term is not primarily geographical as it also describes an area distinguished by sociological, economical and political attributes...
- East Coast liberalEast Coast liberalThe term East Coast liberal is a pejorative stereotype encountered in American political culture.The image associated with East-Coast liberalism is that of a white-collar young urban professional, usually a white male and Protestant, who is college-educated and cosmopolitan.Traditionally, East...
- History of the west coast of North AmericaHistory of the west coast of North AmericaThe human history of the west coast of North America is believed to stretch back to the arrival of the earliest people over the Bering Strait, or alternately along a now-submerged coastal plain, through the development of significant pre-Columbian cultures and population densities, to the arrival...
- Western alienationWestern AlienationIn Canadian politics, Western alienation is a concept that the Western provinces - British Columbia , Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba - have been alienated, and in extreme cases excluded, from mainstream Canadian political affairs in favour of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec...