With recent public opinion surveys indicating that a third of Californians support peacefully seceding from the United States, it’s time for the media to stop dismissing the idea as a zany left coast response to the newly elected Republican federal government. The statistic equates to nearly 13 million people. That’s a lot of people. It’s worth considering what would happen if this long shot became a reality. You know, kind of like our reality-TV president who was never going to win the White House. [...]
It would hardly be the progressive utopia with which the state is often associated, but it could yield breakthroughs in traditionally stagnant political squabbles. To those who argue that California is obligated to stay and fight for the country’s soul, perhaps free of restriction an independent California could actually demonstrate the success of progressive values in action and serve as a better model for the world than the United States. If being one of the stars and stripes means that the populace will be denying climate science and gerrymandering districts in the interests of preserving white nationalism for a few decades, it’s not unreasonable to want to provide California’s 40 million residents with a better life while we can. [...]
California receives about 14 percent of its water from the Colorado River, and losing access would put a strain on Southern California municipal and agricultural water districts in places like the Imperial Valley. Alonga notes, however, that “California’s share of the Colorado River’s runoff already has declined considerably in recent decades, and is likely to decline further in the future regardless.” [...]
The states of the Deep South would lose the most if California left, Marinelli says, because “those are the states that have been benefiting for decades by Washington redistributing California’s taxes to subsidize their states.” He notes their lower or nonexistent sales taxes and ample fiscal support from the federal government.
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